


The Life that Never Lived- Harry Potter and the ????? (Order of the Phoenix)

by bookhater95



Series: The Life that Never Lived [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Reading the Books
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-02-10 21:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 148,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18669004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookhater95/pseuds/bookhater95
Summary: Harry is still only slowly regaining his memories. The last book had only begun Voldemort's return, and Harry knew he needed to remember something about his fifth year, now more than ever... Complete, email me for a full copy at amcmermaid@gmail.com





	1. DUDLEY DEMENTED

I've decided to post the chapters as I make them, one a week completed on Monday, rather than waiting until they're all done, so here you go guys.

I MADE IT! I made it to my favorite book! I'm so happy I'm still screaming, and this chapter of all chapters has to be one of my top ten favorites! Okay, I'm calm. Okay, no I'm not, but I'll shut up now so you can get on with this!

HPHPHPHPHP

The graveyard appeared in a haze around him, and the tombstones were the good features. The memory resurfacing in his mind's eye as he relived the moment again and again, Voldemort's ghastly white face, the threats and promises of his death, and always lingering in the background, Cedric-

"Harry, Harry love, wake up."

A gentle hand was brushing the bangs away from his face, only twitching slightly over the scar but continuing the methodic pattern. Squinting past the gray haze of sleep, he caught a glimpse of red, and for a moment was sure it was Ginny, but that faded absently from his mind without even fully registering why she'd be there.

Then he kept blinking, and instead of the wide brown eyes of Mrs. Weasley promising a hug whenever he did, or didn't, need one, his own green were staring down at him.

"Mum?"

For a moment Harry wasn't entirely sure if he was even awake...but his eyes were already closing again, her soft voice whispering reassurances, "it's alright dear, you're safe here."

Real or not, Harry felt himself relaxing under that touch, and soon faded back into a restless rem of a long dark corridor...

Lily was cooking breakfast with an absent minded look on her face. This would be their ninth day of learning Harry's life, and they were only at the half-way point, knowing full well they wouldn't even get through his fourth year in one day.  She wasn't churning on the book they'd most recently finished though, if she lingered on that to long she was likely to start crying into the pot below her. No she was instead worrying over the fact that they had an Order meeting tonight, and the four of them would be unable to attend. Once she'd served breakfast and brought this to the attention of the others, Sirius brushed her off at once.

"Quit fretting Lil's, so we miss one meeting, they won't go flying off the handle for that."

"Besides, I think it's for the best," Remus grumbled towards his bowl without looking at anyone. "Doubt some of us could walk in there without executing a murder we couldn't fully explain." He took an extra hard bite at his spoon at the end, nearly ripping the metal off.

James hand twitched on the way to his mouth, spilling porridge over his nose instead, and only after he'd carefully wiped it up did he say, "it's not like we can do anything about it. If someone comes around here asking questions, we'll do the same as we did before and pretend like nothing's wrong. It's none of their business if we're being extra cautious of late and didn't attend this one meeting."

Lily was stirring her food absently in the bowl, she hadn't touched a bite. She was too busy straining over the fact that they could honestly use the Order's help with this. They should know that there was a traitor among them before any more secrets were spilled, and she couldn't help the deep longing she had just to see them all. So many were going to die in the coming year.

Harry watched them all with a deep ache, again feeling personally responsible he was putting them in such a hard spot all because of his presence. No one was eating much anymore, and when Harry went to put his finished bowl away and began collecting the others no one protested.

Despite the fact that they all knew full well this stupid book was as likely as the last ones going to start with the Dursleys, Remus kept the baby almost hopefully in his lap. He felt safer with his little cub in his arms while hearing about them than having to picture this very infant around those people. Harry in particular couldn't help but smile when he saw this. Aside from his own parents, there was just something adorable about Remus holding a baby he couldn't put into words.

It was a somber group that flopped down into their spots in the living room and Sirius who started without much enthusiasm.

Sirius had never believed he could say a street name with as much hatred as he curled that out with.

"Hu?" James asked in confusion. He'd admit he was also trying to delay a bit until he had to hear about the inside of one particular house.

"Hosepipes are used to pump water out," Lily grumbled more than explained, at this point she'd pay Sirius just to skip these parts until Harry could escape to the Burrow, but she also knew that wouldn't do any good. In some perverse way she wanted to know every terrible thing Petunia and Vernon had done to her son, that way she could kill them with a much more clear conscious knowing everything. "Sometimes in very hot summers, the city puts restrictions up so the residents have limited use."

James couldn't even imagine the idea, but then again, he'd never thought to question where the water came when he used a spell.

"Please tell me they don't have you out there pruning in that weather," Remus forced out between gritted teeth.

"Nope," Harry murmured. His memories of the summer were still murky, the last clear thing he remembered was getting off the train into Vernon's car, but he already had a bad feeling about how this summer had gone. Not that any of his summers at that place were ever really considered pleasant, so maybe he was just getting this one confused with a previous one? He hoped so, because the bad feelings bubbling up in him now weren't proving a good omen.

"That comes from too little nourishment," Lily sneered, thinking back to the new levels of starving they'd been putting her boy through that past summer.

"Well I think how you treat him is punishable by law!" James snapped, "and I can't bleeding wait to act on it."

Harry got the sense he wasn't going to be reporting the Dursleys to anyone, but his father would be facing his own law somewhere in there, causing Harry to inch away from him just a bit in fear. He really wasn't looking forward to what would happen to his muggle relatives when they got out of here.

"Why were you hiding yourself?" Sirius asked, infusing some mischief into his voice Harry quickly shot away with an exasperated look. He had no more clue than them, yet. Besides that, Harry had always strived to keep himself out of trouble at the Dursleys, though hardly ever exceeding that wasn't the point.

"Well congratulations then," James nodded somberly. He really couldn't find any of his normal enthusiasm while having to hear about Harry there. He was half waiting any moment for Voldemort to pop up all over again and start trying to curse his son where he lay, though hopefully he'd at least hit Vernon first.

Now Harry could feel the soft melding beginning on the edges of his mind as a memory was being returned, and he was more confident than ever his first impulse had been right, he'd found a new level of hate for his summer holidays. He was utterly confident it had something to do with watching the news, or perhaps a lack of news-

"I know you're not going to answer," Remus sighed as he watched baby Harry begin gumming on the sleeve of his robes, "but I really am curious why you're trying to spend time with them like that."

"Enjoying their company is not my reason for being in there," Harry at once said with conviction, "but I'm getting a bad feeling of why I am there."

"I get a bad feeling any time you're there," Lily sniffed, though everyone felt themselves tensing up even more at Harry's proclamation. What a way for this book to start, in such an already tense and uneasy atmosphere.

Harry could feel the soft pressure it caused for his memories to be returned, his listening in on this conversation had finally given him a timeline of where in the summer he was, and the heavy sigh he released relieved no one of their worries. It managed to increase the look of agitation on Harry's face as he realized he'd been left to stew in nothing for a solid month with no useful contact from anyone. He threw Sirius in particular a disgruntled look for his letters he remembered from his godfather, then he sat there and really looked at him for a moment with some monster of a feeling telling him he should be valuing any letter Sirius sent him...

The others had noticed Harry, but they figured if he wasn't sharing it was best not to ask as that had only caused him pain in the past.

"He says that like it's a good thing," Remus cocked his head to the side in, well more disbelief than usual for Vernon's mental health.

"It does explain a bit about them though," Sirius curled his lip in disgust. "They enjoy their son being as daft as a stick like they are, they hate Harry for not conforming to that."

Sirius rolled his eyes in disbelief at such a statement, he'd been on there only two years ago, and now Vernon even knew who he was. It wasn't actually possible for someone to be that dense was it?

"As if he doesn't know better," James snorted in disgust, thinking back to that first book which seemed like a kindness now, and all of their odd mentionings he'd tried to make a comment to Petunia about. He supposed Vernon had simply blocked that from his mind though, puny as it was, he needed the space for all his insults.

"These people have far to much concern with being spied on," Lily scoffed in disgust, but she already knew how self important they found themselves.

"Petunia does enough of it," Remus forced something resembling a smile, "I'm sure she's just expecting retribution."

Harry's eyes narrowed in on this, he'd been far too shy when this had first been brought up, and far too out of it when Dumbledore had mentioned it in the last book, but now taking any excuse to not speak of the Dursley's for a moment Harry confirmed, "you said there was a Figg in the Order?"

"Yes," Remus confirmed, "but I'm still not convinced it's not the same one we know. Surely if she's been looking after you all these years, she'd have told Dumbledore about your err, living arrangements in your younger years." His face was murderous by the end at having to phrase a child living in a cupboard in that light, but if he'd actually said the words they'd come out more as a growl.

"I never told her that though," Harry shrugged, "never told anyone."

Lily narrowed her eyes on her son for that, but she blamed the Dursleys more than Harry for that. More than likely he'd been warned with a harsher punishment than no meals, she shuddered slightly at even the thought of that man putting his hands on her son and quickly cut off her train of thought while answering, "yes, well there's still the other things. Those ratty clothes and your very clear malnourishment plus never taking you anywhere while they spoiled Dudley rotten. Surely she'd at least mention that to Dumbledore who would have investigated further."

Harry wasn't as sure, the Dursley's had often spread around he was a sickly kid to excuse his looks and how they couldn't find any clothes to fit him properly, and there really was something nagging at his mind of Mrs. Figg and Dumbledore...but he let the matter go nonetheless.

Lily gave a soft little sigh of pity for the poor old thing, she probably got lonely especially since Harry hadn't stayed around anymore.

Remus spluttered in shock as he looked at Sirius like he'd spoken Norwegian.

Sirius looked just as disbelieving as he rolled his eyes at what he'd said. "I'll believe Dudley's out having tea with friends when Harry dates Malfoy."

Harry retched at the idea theatrically while laughing along with the others, privately thinking to himself all that he'd already caught Dudley doing that summer when he was supposedly 'out.' His parents really were blind.

James scoffed in disgust, he had more reasons than he'd ever dream of hating these stupid in laws of his, but their continued ignorance still chafed him for just how purposefully stupid they were being.

"Yet I'm not even surprised," Remus rolled his eyes.

They were all muttering in frustration at this little delinquent, but honestly it was just a nice change of pace to hear he wasn't tormenting Harry as much as he'd seemed to before they weren't putting too much effort into it.

Sirius finished that a bit sadly, his mind flickering back to his having done the same in Hogsmeade and not appreciating the similarities to him and his godson in these lights. Harry was probably getting just as much food as a few rats at that place as well.

"Why were you scavenging for newspapers?" James asked with a wince, trying to deny he'd been picturing the same thing as Sirius.

Harry chewed on that for a moment, debating whether to tell them and get it over with or let the book tell as it most likely would, but it didn't take much to decide on the first as he explained the lackluster mail he'd been getting from his friends.

There was a moment of shocked silence before Remus shook his head sadly at Harry and said, "I think you're putting a little too much stock into your friends with that. What exactly do you think they're not telling you, Voldemort walking up the street? No, he's in hiding, they can't offer up anymore."

It was clear as day the anger in Harry's tone as he'd explained it, but this explanation didn't simmer him any. "I don't understand why they had to be so cryptic about it though, it made it sound like they knew something I didn't." This usually happened every time he was at the Dursley's, as old feelings never failed to pop up of his years of isolation there and it somehow felt so much worse that summer.

"Is that really safe?" Lily tried to change the subject into something she found far more important. "The only reason you're at that bleeding place is because you're somehow protected at that house, is wandering the streets a good idea?"

"I couldn't be locked up in that house all the time," Harry scowled, "I'd go mad and beg Ron to come get me again. It's Dumbledore's fault for not explaining that to me." He felt a little bad for his petulant tone when he watched everyone around him flinch, clearly they were all fearing some coming attack by Death Eaters now. Harry wasn't afraid of that, if it hadn't happened by now he didn't see why Voldemort's return would suddenly cause it. That wasn't entirely accurate though...had Death Eaters ever shown up in Private Drive? He was getting some interesting feelings trying to flip across his mind. He was in some kind of danger this summer, and he would be getting guests at his house...but then Sirius had kept going and he stopped thinking about it.

"What are you hoping to find anyways?" James asked.

"Strange deaths, disappearances, anything indicating what Voldemort's doing," Harry said like he thought that was obvious.

"While I get what you're going for," Sirius shook his head at him, "I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. If that's the kind of stuff you were hoping Ron and Hermione would send you, then it's no wonder your disapointed. Voldemort tries his hardest to keep himself in the shadows as often as possible, it's certainly scarier that way."

"Didn't you notice the pattern last year," James agreed. "Of the people we know he killed, they were all fairly insignificant and wouldn't have taken much notice. The only reason Bertha did was because most likely Crouch and he had his own reasons to find her and his own secrets to protect, she was sloppy." No one could miss how haggard his face looked in the end as they all remembered who's sloppy kill that was.

"But someone must have some idea of what he is doing," Harry insisted, already realizing he was going to feel bad for the way he'd been thinking of his friends this summer once he'd had this explained.

"Well yes," Remus agreed, "but that's not something you'd put in a letter." Privately he also agreed he wasn't entirely sure if anyone in the Order would tell Harry even if they could. Sirius was the most likely, and they weren't even sure where he was right now. Remus seemed to have just fallen off the face of the earth and wouldn't be telling anyone anything, and clearly Dumbledore was trying to keep Harry out of the loop by having him at the Dursleys for as long as he was.

Harry grumbled a bit more but sighed in agreement.

Lily was fighting back the urge of a few nasty insults she'd like to throw Vernon's way, she wanted Harry to leave this news venture just so she wouldn't have to hear his commentary on every little thing.

"While true," Remus agreed, "I'm not sure I understand your disappointment with that."

"Better to know what's going on than this constant wondering and worrying," Harry grumbled.

They wanted to argue the point, but what could they say. They couldn't tell Harry to at least try to enjoy his summer while he could, not where he was. He had nothing to take his mind off these things, and they could already feel the frustration rolling off of him in waves.

Lily sighed as she wrapped a tight arm around Harry, remembering back to his early days of discovering the wizarding world and how he'd spent his summer days longing to go back to school. She'd rather hear about that than his desire to go chasing after Voldemort.

"As if he's not doing the exact same thing," Remus scoffed.

"Actually he wasn't," Harry shrugged, "he treated us all to a lengthy dinner speech about the importance of upholding such laws and he found it befouling anyone would do otherwise."

"Yet another reason I intend on murdering him," James sneered, "torturing you with his arrogant attitude like that."

"Still as pompous an arse as ever then," Sirius rolled his eyes, though honestly he wouldn't be surprised if the man was still a hypocrite and did it without Harry's even noticing.

"That counts as a little strange," Lily offered just to see her son stop looking like that for a moment, though she really didn't think it had anything to do with Voldemort.

"It was because they were training a new pilot though," Harry sighed, "I definitely found that believable enough."

"So she is a hypocrite," Lily sniffed, though she was well aware by this point.

"That's actually quite talented," Sirius snickered a bit at training a bird to do that.

"Muggle's have the strangest news," James had his head cocked to the side as he heard all of this.

Sirius had never really gotten to a carefree mode of reading, Harry being around these people just made him too uneasy, but now he was reading as tense and upset as if Harry had been around that troll all over again. Anything that sounded like a gunshot couldn't be a good thing.

Even if James hadn't remembered what a gunshot was he would have instantly been as tense and upset as the others just from the way they all tensed.

Harry was too busy feeling the echo of adrenaline trying to jump him even if he didn't feel it now to wonder on why he should be thinking of that.

Remus was far too concerned with the vision of Death Eater's really attacking Harry there to congratulate him on those reflexes.

Harry hissed and went cross eyed in pain as he rubbed the top of his head, but that still didn't drop the determined look on his face nor how his hand stayed tight around his wand. If he looked like this now with just a delayed after effect while trying not to do anything about it, they could all easily imagine how fierce he looked on the actual situation. It didn't do much to make any of them feel better as they all remembered just how alone he was there.

For a moment Sirius was convinced someone was squeezing their hands around his throat, his vision blurred out as he saw red then black from what he'd just forced out in shock. There was just no way possible that monster was actually squeezing his godson's throat!

Then a monstrous noise registered, and Sirius wasn't allowed to act on whatever his impulse had been leading him to break because he was flying into action.

"Let me GO!" James continued to thrash no matter how tight the hold on him was. "I don't care if I get knocked out, I'll kill him before I do!"

Remus nearly fell back down the stairs, he'd bolted up there and put the baby down in his crib the moment he realized what all was happening and only just came back in time to try and stop his friend as well. "Think about what your saying Prongs," Remus begged, trying to stay in his face while avoiding the thrashing limbs. "You won't get a foot when Harry's going to have to drag your arse back here, and what if it's worse this time-"

"I don't care!" James howled, his elbow now slamming repeatedly into Sirius' ribs as he kept trying to make his way to that bleeding door.

Harry watched with horror at this reaction, which finally wore off when his fingers started grasping at the handle, so he darted forward to try and say his part, "Dad, please, it-"

"AND YOU!" James snarled, his face the deepest shade of red as his wild eyes flashed between the door and his son now. "You lied to me! You said they never put hands on you!"

"I said they never left a bruise," Harry quickly corrected.

He blinked as all three of them froze in what they were doing and just stared at him, Sirius arms even went slack and James clearly didn't notice.

James stood there, vibrating in place as he snarled, "lying by omission is still a lie Harry! The bloody hell, how many times had he done this!?"

Harry was frowning in concern, rocking on his feet as he watched him with unease, but when he failed to answer James made a guttural, maddening sound as he stormed away, at least in the opposite direction up the stairs. He shoved a vase off a stand on the way, though as Lily noted when she darted after him it had been a gift from Petunia so it seemed fitting.

The last thing the three at the bottom of the stairs herd was a few more objects breaking and Lily crying, "no, James, not that one!"

Harry's face was stark white in shock as he whispered, "he's really mad at me."

Remus and Sirius exchanged a broken look. Neither of them were feeling much calmer than their friend, but the terror now written on Harry was doing a pretty good job of reminding them they shouldn't try and mimic his actions.

"Not you," Remus sighed,

"-by much," Sirius muttered.

"but Harry, what were you thinking?" Remus quickly moved past that sense it only made Harry look even more upset.

"I just," he threw his hands up in the air in frustration, his mind scrambling as he tried to come up with a way to make them see. "You guys have to understand I never told anyone about this,  _ anyone.  _ Not Ron, it just-" he sighed and flattened his hair onto his head for a moment, starting to pace and still throwing panicked eyes at the stairs where now no noise at all could be heard.

Sirius sucked in a deep breath, watching Harry pad back and forth for several more beats before saying, "I get that. It took me ages to tell James what my mum did to me."

Harry paused then, watching Sirius with dark weary eyes. Sirius leaned back against the stairs banister, trying for all the world to look casual as he said, "I grew up a nosy little child, always asking one to many questions, and my mum hated that. She always said I was never a proper Black, and she tended to curse me for it, a lot. Her favorite was to use the Transmogrifian Torture, it popped a limb out of socket and she'd leave it like that until I properly apologized and said I'd do better and stuff. That never left a bruise either," he finished with a mutter, rubbing absently at his shoulder.

He looked over to see Harry had a new kind of horrified look on his face, and Sirius nodded solemnly as he kept going, "things didn't get any better for me once I started school. My first morning there when she'd found out I was in Gryffindor, she sent me a howler so bad it made what Neville's Gran and Ron's mum sent look like a love letters. I ran out of there trying my damndest not to cry, and James caught up to me and demanded to know what that was about. I didn't tell him, not really, just kind of fudged around it and we ended up missing our first Transfiguration class, though for some reason McGonagall didn't say anything to me," he added with a rueful smile. "Then Remus let us borrow his notes so that we could do our homework, so it was never even brought up. He wasn't even technically our friend yet."

"I think I just somehow knew I'd better get used to it," Remus said with a roll of his eyes, taking a seat on the steps anyways and propping his head in his hands like he was trying to pretend this was all casual stuff.

Sirius gave him a nudge with his foot before rounding up, "I didn't go home for that Christmas or Easter holiday, but my summer there wasn't pretty. She basically disowned me, swearing up and down I could never make up for this terrible mistake I made." He gave a tragic look to the ceiling, then smirked at Harry before finishing, "a memory I look back on quite fondly now."

They watched Harry for another second, and this time he did open his mouth before quickly closing it, clearly still dithering, so Remus instead said, "my parents are afraid of me."

Sirius had to bite back the instant feeling he had of correcting Remus, he'd only met his parents twice and he'd never gotten that impression, but Remus seemed to feel anyone who wasn't an Animagus was afraid of him no matter what they said. It was one of the reasons he avoided his own dad now.

"What?" He squawked in surprise, looking Remus in the eye to make sure that wasn't some cruel joke.

He just shrugged however, though his fingers fidgeting with the hem of his robes showed his careless tone wasn't really all there as he explained, "well, they certainly never look me in the eye. They asked me if I could even try to stay at Hogwarts over summer break because they realized the school was much better equipped to handle me. During my full moons, they'd shut me up in a room, sort of like they had to do here, and then leave the house for twenty four hours, just to make sure they weren't around for any part of the cycle."

Harry's mouth was actually hanging open in shock now, which only made Remus give a not at all amused smile. "Oh they took care of me after the fact, bandaged me up and all that. I never knew if it was shame, or fear, or something else, but I do know I stopped going around my parents place not long after I left school, and they've never asked me over since. Last time I saw them was when my Mum passed away and I honestly thought when I was asked up to the hospital it was a joke."

Harry seemed to realize he was staring then, and quickly closed his mouth, but at least this time he didn't turn away from them and instead ran his hand through his hair some more as he said haplessly, "I, don't know what you want me to say. He throttled me sometimes, but only when I was much younger, when my magic was really obvious. He only did it till I went slack, and I learned to do that pretty fast, then he'd lock me in my cupboard until he'd decided I'd learned my lesson. It never did leave a bruise," he emphasized, now rubbing absently at his throat in remembrance.

"How come you never went to the police, told someone," Remus asked gently.

Harry rolled his eyes at what he felt was an absurd question. "Even if I'd had the gall to, which I didn't as Vernon terrified me through most of my younger years, I had no proof, which he'd occasionally point out whenever someone looked at me on the street to long. You think I didn't notice that Dudley and I were clearly so different from each other. But Vernon always said that if I ever said a word about how they'd dealt with any of my weirdness, I couldn't prove it. They'd say that Dudley's second bedroom was mine, and they really only did take food away from me whenever my magic was acting up, never so much I was malnourished."

He paused then, a calculating look on his face as he added, "I don't really think Petunia or Dudley knew, or if they did they didn't care. Petunia was certainly all for the food part though, so I may not put it past them."

Harry looked back to see that a nerve was thumping in both of their jaws, and he was quick to tack on, "he really did stop after I turned eleven though. He was definitely to afraid of my magic, and it really wasn't  _ that  _ frequent."

"And your twelfth birthday," Sirius managed to get out in a steel tone.

Harry flattened his hair with nerves, but at this point recognized there was no reason not to tell them. "Okay, yeah, he did it then until I did pass out. Woke up in the bathroom and they wouldn't let me out until Vernon had put those bars on my window. They've got their own bathroom in their bedroom, so it hardly put them out."

He crossed his arms defensively when they just kept staring at him. "What? What I just said isn't nearly as bad as what you two had."

While they weren't exactly going to argue with him over such a topic it hardly made what he did say feel better.

Up the stairs in their room, Lily watched James collapse on the bed. He'd taken his glasses off first, so that he could press his hands so hard into his face, his palms digging into his eyes, he looked like he was trying to gouge them out.

"James," she whispered, sinking down beside him, but completely at a loss for words.

"I can't stop seeing it," he got out through a restricted throat. "The cupboard, Pettigrew, Harry watching Cedric get murdered right in front of him, now this. I'm fighting this war to try and save my only child, and at this rate my dying feels about as useful as my life."

"Don't-" she begged at once, her hands latching onto his, trying to pull them away, but he still managed to keep going, "I couldn't even save you. You're the one who saved Harry, I just got tossed aside like the useless thing I am-"

"James, please, you can't be thinking like that." She cut him off, nearly begging to try and get him to stop. She had to tug hard for a moment, but finally his hands slid away to reveal bloodshot eyes. She stayed leaning over him, hazel matching green as she whispered, "don't you think I'm feeling the same way. She was my sister James, and she's doing this to my baby, but don't you start talking like that now. We will find a way to fix this, make it so that Harry never has to be without us again."

James gave a derisive snort, his eyes still vacant as he whispered, "some dad I'd turned out to be anyways, Harry's been lying his arse off since he got here, and did you see that look on his face. Now I've scared him senseless, I'll be lucky if he dosen't look at me the way he does Vernon now. Should probably just hand him over to Sirius already and be done with it for all the-"

Lily popped him on the forehead, and when he only winced but kept at his insane mutterings, she smacked him, hard.

"James, listen to yourself," she pleaded. "If Harry doesn't understand why you were so upset then that's because he's never had his father around to be upset on his behalf, but he could never put you and Vernon in the same scope of his life. You're too good a person, and he knows that."

His face twitched, like he wanted to believe her but couldn't quite grasp the emotion yet, so she kept going. "And if you actually think Harry would replace Sirius with you if he had the chance, then you really need a reality check. They both love you, and they need you. It's a damn cruel world where Harry's from that you're not in the picture, but both of them would do anything to change that."

He closed his eyes then, his jaw still shaking, a few tears managing to escape, but at least for a moment Lily had seen the flash in him like he believed that.

There was silence for a long time between them, Lily not moving a muscle and James trying to get his under control, until finally he took a careful breath in through his nose and releasing it through his mouth before whispering, "I love you."

"I love you to," she said back at once.

He opened his eyes then, watching her for several more beats before moving like he was going to sit up. Lily sat back and let him, but she was at once buried into his chest as he wrapped his arms as tight around her as he could. "What did I do to deserve you?" He muttered into her hair.

"If I figure it out, I'll let you know," she returned, snuggling him for as long as they both needed, before he took another deep breath and whispered,

"Guess I should go back down and face them."

"They're all worried sick about you," Lily said at once. "You looked likely to jump through a window when you came pelting up here."

He made an odd noise, one Lily couldn't decide if it was in agreement or protest, but then he took to his feet, put his glasses back on, and started for the door, her hand still tightly in his, their rings pressed together.

As they came back down they saw Remus had to hop out of the way, and quickly took in the other two. Sirius who was an ugly gray but trying to pretend he was acting normal, and Harry's arms crossed and still looking defensive. It did not improve his mood that when Harry saw him, his foot looked like he wanted to take an automatic step back, but he met his eyes and at once whispered, "I'm sorry."

James opened his mouth, couldn't think of anything to say, closed it, and walked past him back to the living room. Lily met her son's eyes as well, but didn't release her hold on James and instead hissed something at him as James made for the recliner. He didn't respond, instead sinking down into that and pulling his wife with him. She perched on his lap, giving him a look that said plainly she did not approve of his actions, but when he wrapped his arms around her waist again and didn't look up to moving, she just rolled her eyes and looked back towards them expectantly.

"He's mad at me," Harry murmured for Sirius and Remus' ears alone.

"Only for the next hour or so," Sirius waved it off. "I pissed him off real good when I denied what my mother had been doing to me for most of my childhood. These two asked me a lot of the same questions they'd been asking you when I came back from holiday, and I gave a lot of the same answers. Didn't admit to it all till I ran away, and even while he was helping me unpack he was ribbing me."

"If there's one thing you want to do to piss Prongs off, it is lie to him," Remus nodded in agreement. "When he found out how long I'd gone without telling him about my being a werewolf, he was really ticked, so much so he went and did something illegal," he finished with an amused smile, causing Sirius at least to laugh.

Harry did not join in, still watching his dad with clear guilt on his face, but followed the other two as they went back into the room as well. He stood in the doorway, and finally he couldn't take it anymore. He'd never in his life imagined his father so angry with him, and the rejection trying to well up inside him and cast a new shade of light on every good memory he'd collected so far had the words bursting out of him before he'd considered them. "I'm sorry, alright. I'll tell you, I promise-" he tried to think of some way to begin, but the words failed him, so honestly stalling for time he finished in a whisper, "after this chapter's over."

James only hesitated a beat, nodded to indicate he'd heard, but still didn't unbury himself from Lily's back.

Harry quickly shuffled to the farthest sofa away, trying to curl himself into the cushions and looking anywhere but at his parents.

James had his face pressed into Lily's spine, doing a terrible job of pretending he wasn't paying attention to any of them, while Lily was giving him the stank eye over her shoulder but clearly wasn't moving until she saw something else.

Remus and Sirius exchanged uneasy looks, but finally Remus sat down next to Harry and Sirius went back to fetch the book. The last thing he actually wanted to do was go back and see how long Vernon had his hands on Harry before his little pup passed out, for all he knew he'd barely get a few more words in before he incited rage all over again from himself and James. Normally this would be the time Harry would step in, read for them as a reminder he was fine, but for now he was pretending to be invisible.

It also occured to all three of them that they'd had this conversation when James and Lily hadn't even been here, so they'd never even gotten their sons full confession. Remus and Sirius locked eyes, knowing now probably wasn't the time, but hopefully by the end of this chapter everyone would be at least a bit calmer and they'd convince Harry to tell Lily and James what he'd told them. Sirius fidgeted with the page for a long time, before finally the silence dragged on and he felt he had no other choice but to keep going.*

Sirius' fingers were so tight around the book they were beginning to hurt, but he couldn't release his hold one little bit, he was too busy picturing them being around Vernon's neck.

Remus wasn't even distracted by the coppery taste of blood in his mouth from biting his tongue to stop himself uttering a string of constant curses, his own throat vibrating violently already showing how he felt about having to imagine that being done to Harry. The very worst part was, this still wasn't the worst thing happening. There could still be danger around Harry, and Vernon was merely causing a fatal distraction.

Lily's face was ghastly white as that image kept floating just behind her mind's eye, blocking out her once peaceful living room and adult son trying to burrow himself out of sight behind Sirius and into the couch. How many times had this happened in his youth? Often enough it was clear this was a common reaction of Vernon's to begin throttling Harry, even in plain view of the street like that. Had his accidental magic ever kicked in before? Or had he never held on so long this happened? She hardly wanted answers to any of these questions, she was still likely to vomit and start skinning that walrus already with her own.

This only reinforced what Lily had just been thinking though, and now she couldn't shake the thought! How on earth was that excuse, that was such a blatant sign of abuse and surely someone had just seen it as the neighbors were looking around. Did everyone in that neighborhood care so little about Harry's well being because of the Dursley's lies no one was going to do anything about this!

Harry glanced half hopefully at Remus or Sirius, like he was hoping one of them would make a joke at his expense, but neither of them did, they were still too pail from anger to take the bait. Both were thinking of themselves in the future, what they wished they'd already done to Vernon but each having never done so and neither finding it excusable.

James still had his face buried in his wife's hair, though the fiery color was doing little to improve his mood it still held the only comfort he could find at the moment, and was far to distracted to ask what on earth that could mean in any relation to the noise Harry reacted to. He was just more disgusted Vernon was playing off his own moment.

"I've never seen him grin like anything else though," Harry grumbled softly, as the silence apart from the violent reading was starting to freak him out. He'd grown far to used to the constant flow of commentary, and had learned that long lapses in silence like this were usually at the worst of times. He didn't agree this leveld up with other moments.

Harry flinched in shock at the eruption of growls in the room, but at least this time he understood why. He hadn't wanted to be back in arm's reach of Vernon then either.

It was highly unlikely before this moment that the Dursleys were going to live much longer when they were released from this place, but now whatever wavering may have persisted at Harry's words wouldn't even hold. It was utterly astounding he'd ever done so when he clearly had memories of this happening to him in his younger years!

"I hope he had the bleeding piss scared out of him," Remus hissed, choosing to focus on the disappointment this moment didn't cause Vernon heart failure rather than the still lingering fear of what was going on to start this.

Despite James' hands still wrapped tight around her waist, Lily was still fighting the urge to go over to her son right now and have him in her arms to make absolutely certain there wasn't anything wrong with him because of this instance. To run her hands gently over his neck, to be where he was and be just as certain no one was going to harm her son while he was surrounded by all those Muggles.

Sirius had to work furiously with himself not to give some waspish reply, that was far to similar to how his mother had treated him in the house he'd grown up in. Treating every room that wasn't his as if Sirius were trespassing in it.

James felt his lip curling up in disgust, did that man have a single brain cell of his own?

Harry almost laughed as he remembered those looks as compared to the ones his family still had in place. Vernon and Petunia had nothing on outrage when it came to them.

That did it. Harry's unexpected comment cracked Remus and he snorted in surprise but just as quickly tried to stifle his giggling. It wasn't hard, he could still feel bloodlust wanting him to curse something into oblivion, but at least Harry met his eyes and grinned back which made it worth it.

Lily rolled her eyes and tisked in disgust. She didn't care it was nearly fourteen years later for the man, he knew perfectly well her lot did in fact end up on the news from time to time, it had been what had drawn the man to question Petunia about Lily's whereabouts all those years ago. Either he'd blocked the memory or he'd forgotten, either way she no longer needed an excuse to find anything he said or did the lowest form of stupid.

"Because Merlin forbid he just get letters from his friends," Sirius muttered tersely. His knuckles still white around the books edge and the fearsome tone of his voice hadn't dropped one bit and Harry was starting to grow worried that none of them seemed to be breathing normally for a while now.

"Why do you bother!?" James couldn't stop his snap of outrage, but either Harry was expecting it this time or he just rolled with it Harry didn't flinch this time before answering calmly, "I rarely see a point in lying if I can help it." He did finish on a wince though as all of them gave him looks of disbelief for that, considering his lie by omission was a part of the reason everyone in here looked more than angry. He sighed and muttered something, but was sick of lingering on this topic so shot at Sirius, "do you want me to read through this part?"

"No," Sirius snapped right back, turning his boggling eyes away from Harry for now and effectively hiding a tint of hurt now. He couldn't help it though, he seemed to go out of his way to tell those Dursleys the truth as often as he could, but wouldn't for them? In his time or now?

"Don't see the point of telling them the truth when clearly they think he's lying about everything anyways," Lily was still hissing under her breath so low only James could hear, and he was in full agreement.

"Like what exactly?" Remus rolled his eyes in contempt.

"Don't know, never asked for details," Harry said with a happy enough smile, at least someone was trying to push back into playing this off even if every part of Remus clearly didn't feel it. Harry was honestly wishing Remus hadn't put the baby away now, even that little baby would have helped them feel better.

There were several colorful comments each of them could have made to that, but considering Vernon would have long since died before this conversation had taken place if any of them had had their way besides Harry, Sirius didn't bother listening to the variety and instead kept up his lackluster reading in hopes this chapter would just end. Anger and worry were still at war with each other over Harry's predicament, and he wanted some kind of proof his little pup wasn't about to be attacked right there on the street and that Vernon was going to have his hands removed soon, not necessarily in that order.

Remus couldn't help it that time, he did manage a soft laugh under his breath for Harry's wit, but he was still the only one.

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes at what he was now considering an overreaction from everyone else. He was fine, and if they really wanted another apology he'd give it just to stop all of this ugly silence and silent death threats he could still feel pulsing through the room.

Lily blinked spastically for a moment as fear finally trumped anger. Harry was only at that place because apparently it was safe from dark attacks, but now he'd up and left with the noise of an apparition still going unexplained. Exactly how far was that protection magic around number four? Just the house, the street? Yet for even a second to turn around and say she wanted Harry to stay at that house for a moment longer would always feel wrong, it really spoke volumes she'd prefer Harry's chances with a dark wizard rather than her sister and husband in law.

Remus was dying to ask Harry what he defined as 'trouble' with those people. Another round of strangling? Harry'd made it clear it wasn't that common, but now he truly was in the dark of how much Harry could be leaving out there. Sirius was still reading every word as a death sentence and very clearly wanting to finish this, and since Remus was well aware Harry wasn't getting out of this conversation again at the end of the chapter he didn't bring it up for now.

Sirius couldn't take the suspense anymore and did ask, "pay what price exactly?"

Harry wanted to sigh and roll his eyes, try and play this all off or just ignore it like he had in the past, but at this point he was sure that wouldn't help any. He didn't see how telling them the entire truth would make it much better, but he wasn't sure it could get any worse either. "Threats mostly, he knew he couldn't do anything to me, even if he knew I wasn't supposed to be doing magic he was still afraid I would after Marge. Locking me in the shed mostly, he even kept the padlock all nice and polished," he finished with a forced laugh like looking back made it funny rather than as menacing as he'd honestly found it, but he'd instead been right the first time, several disturbing noises promising more violence and more death glares at the door showed his honesty had won him nothing.

Harry was still very distracted by the tension that had practically taken up a seat in this room, and he had no want to think about the tingling feeling saying he could have a gut answer to that question.

No one else had really forgotten what had started the instance either, and honestly fear was starting to trump outrage. None of them could wait to start wringing Vernon's neck themselves, they'd probably have to find an object to do so considering their hands wouldn't wrap around but that wasn't the point. Now though, now that Harry was away from him, the reason he'd left was hovering in the forefront just waiting to pounce on their aching hearts. Most likely it was a Death Eater coming for Harry, and he'd now left the only protection he'd had.

Harry may not have understood why as he wasn't fering the same thing, but he was relieved when Sirius finally started reading in less blood thirsty tones and hoped he'd finally switch back to at least semi normal.

Lily could tell she was the only one who was desperately hoping for that to be the answer. The other boys were all still too upset to even consider any kind of good option other than an attack waiting, but Lily was honestly hoping now it was Dobby with some cryptic new message. She'd take that over a fight for his life as strung out as she was right now.

Harry was looking on at nothing in a funny sort of way, his face twisted as he was so sure he was moments away from realizing something, about being followed by invisible-

"Not invisible," Remus agreed uneasily, "but you do know he can hide at least in a bush." His thoughts were hovering the same as the other boys, that a wizard could be hidden even more easily. Though it did beg the question, if Harry was under attack, why the hiding at all? Were they waiting until he was far enough away from Private Drive to attack? It was hard to see another motive when they were all still on the edge of their seat and white faced from anger.

Lily tried to force herself to see some good news in this, that this wasn't Harry's first foray out of that house that summer and he hadn't been attacked yet. Her hand tightened around James' though as her mind just kept offering up more terrible solutions, that he was just being watched, and someone was waiting.

Harry fidgeted with unease as he was just as sure of this fact now, but he felt no impending threat from this like he was now aware those around him did. Yet that didn't stop a trickle of sweat breaking over the back of his neck as he couldn't find it in himself to comfort them either, to promise nothing bad was going to happen this night. In fact he was now fighting back the impulse to take the book away from Sirius again for a wholly other reason, something bad was going to happen to him tonight and he didn't think his godfather in particular was going to enjoy it.

Remus shook his head in disbelief at Harry as he asked, "did it really not occur to you this could be an attack?"

"Not really," he sighed. "Dumbledore said the only reason I was going there was because it was supposed to be safe."

They wished they had that kind of faith in Dumbledore, but seeing as they'd never once seen that house as any kind of safe none of them agreed.

"Glory Harry, now I know you've been spending too much time with those muggles," Sirius sighed. "Trying to write off our instances as normal things."

Harry finally felt a real smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as Sirius tried for a joke again, somehow it felt better to watch them worry about something they knew he lived through like some impending attack then fear for his health at the Dursleys.

Lily felt James twitch behind her, the compulsion to go comfort his son when he heard of that feeling rearing it's head and pushing away his own feelings. He sighed deeply, but finally unburied himself from her hair and glanced around at Harry now to see a far away, contemplative look on his face as he rubbed absently at his head while Sirius read, but thankfully there weren't any traces of hopelessness in him now.

Remus shook his head at Harry's naivety, he was looking for odd instances occurring in the Muggle news but only scanning front headlines of theirs? He was most likely going off his experience last year of the two headlines featuring Barty Crouch and Bertha Jorkins, but those weren't always front cover stories. Sometimes it took a few page flips to find anything remotely interesting other than politics and Quidditch scores. He wasn't going to bring this up to Harry now though, no since in riling him up when soon enough they were going to be hearing more about odd happenings in the book than they already were from their own Daily Prophet from this timeline.

"News like what?" Sirius couldn't stop himself from asking. "Merlin Harry don't you ever just send fun letters to your friends detailing all the times you've tried to kill your cousin."

Harry just rolled his eyes as he found the question obvious and considered the rest all joking, but he was wrong. Sirius wasn't the only one wondering if Harry would ever get anything resembling a normal life which now seemed laughable with Voldemort's return.

"That would get on anyone's nerves though," Remus sympathized. "Did they have to be so cryptic?"

"Wonder why you haven't been invited over to the Burrow yet," Lily agreed softly.

Harry just hummed in annoyed agreement, having no idea why he'd feel like correcting his mother he never made a trip to the Burrow this summer.

"Now that's just hurtful," Sirius gave an exaggerated pout which was worth it when Harry almost cracked a smile at him. Sirius wanted to still be angry, he was certainly still worried, but Harry was starting to look sickly pale again and he didn't want his pup to be remembering whatever was fixing to happen while still thinking everyone was still mad at him.

"Now that was just hurtful, I don't think I've ever been that mad at anyone."

James still sounded off, but he met Harry's eyes so no matter how much hurt and anger was still there, Harry smiled right back.

Harry's kindling annoyance was certainly muted from what it had been at the age of fifteen, but it was helping that those around him were finally starting to act at least sort of normal again, so Harry tried not to linger too much on the hurt feelings he remembered feeling from his friends.

"What does handling situations have to do with anything?" Lily asked in confusion. "They're not taking Ron and Hermione out on Order missions, most likely Molly's keeping them busy with chores."

Harry at first felt a flash of confusion, like he was quite sure his friends did know something of what was going that he still wasn't privy to, but it was at once drowned out by his certainty that his mother was right and his friends were keeping quite busy and not in a way they were enjoying. It was all very strange considering he still couldn't imagine the Burrow coming into play. In answer, he simply shrugged with some chagrin and said, "well when you put it like that it sounds ridiculous, but yeah that's pretty much what was on my mind. They were out there getting told everything while I was stuck-" he finished with a wince, not having any proper way to refer to the Dursleys anymore without watching them all flash with another bout of anger.

Lily felt her throat nearly swollen shut. She couldn't stand just sitting here and letting him go through all that! It was killing her not to ask if he'd talked about this with anyone, but she knew he hadn't, he'd said so himself. The only people he'd ever even remotely brought it up with were Ron and Hermione, and that hadn't been the real talk Harry needed, just his friends listening to him chat about what Voldemort could be up to now.

She took one look at Harry's face though and could tell now still wasn't the time to be bringing this up. Harry's face was still lined with tension as he tried to throw covert looks at his father and was still glancing periodically at the door. Clearly whatever they were trying to prove in showing they were trying to move past that moment wasn't fooling him completely, and bringing back up that graveyard moment would only make him feel worse. She wanted her son to feel safe here, not like she was constantly interrogating him, so it was probably best to wait at least until he was at the Burrow and she could trust Hermione to bring it up for her.

Sirius read all that with such a horrid wince it looked like his face was going to spasm off, but Harry couldn't think of a word of comfort for him or anyone. He couldn't help what his mind dwelled on, and even without the month long time span in between remembering that and where he was now, he could still remembering what it felt like. It was a mercy being here and not being able to constantly relive that moment like his dreams had been trying to do last night, but at least here he had distractions with his family so he couldn't dwell on that. At the Dursley's he'd had nothing.

Green met green as the two shared a look, Harry trying this very hardest to act like this was no big deal. He was failing, and Lily knew full well what she'd woken him from last night with her gentle touch, but she wasn't going to call him out either as clearly he was not going to have this conversation on top of the Dursleys spit out he was expecting very soon.

None of the boys were remotely surprised either, they'd all heard the noise Harry had been making last night and it really wasn't surprising if they thought about it. His recurring memories would of course bring back the dreams he'd be lingering on when he was that age.

Sirius had to work hard at it, but finally he got a tragic look strung across his face before looking around at Harry and demanding, "why do you always take the advice I give you like that? That's sound logic with what I know you get up to."

Harry just gave him an exasperated look back, he wasn't going to explain himself twice and he knew he'd had several mental rants about his godfather as well as his friends. Plus, at least he'd started with the nicety that Sirius understood him.

"Honestly you deserve a lot of credit for restraining yourself," Remus chuckled, "I know Sirius himself wouldn't have lasted."

Harry gave an absent smile as he tried to visualize it, but all he was finding was an empty house at the end, which made no sense. Of course the Weasley's would be at their home.

James and Remus couldn't help throwing their heads back in surprised laughter while Sirius' smile turned utterly indulgent.

"Well when you put it like that-" he began to agree, when Remus got a hold of himself and spoke over him, "the best part is, that's still not the most wild thing he's ever done. Don't think we've yet told you about the time a Ravenclaw dared him to tie a string up to-"

"You're going to give Harry the wrong impression about me," Sirius cut him off with a wagging finger and a mischievous smirk.

"What impression would that be?" Harry demanded as he laughed along, finally feeling the releasing tension from his shoulders as they all got a laugh again.

"That I was some scoundrel who deserved that detention," Sirius said, making his eyes go wider with innocence. "I'll tell you that one when I know these two idiots won't paint me in a bad light."

"You know that's never going to happen," James muttered loud enough they all heard anyways, but Sirius kept going with a smug smirk.

"You could always try hanging from the gutters," Remus couldn't help but suggest while he rolled his eyes.

"That's not nearly as comfortable or long term helpful," Sirius shook his head, "though I suppose if the telly's loud enough anyways, he could just lay on the roof, I'm sure he's agile enough to get up there."

"Why do we keep your friends around again?" Lily muttered to James as she watched them have a light bicker over the pros and cons of both while Harry watched indulgently.

"You know you love them," was James' only response. He couldn't decide if he wanted them to stop and keep going so that this bleeding chapter would be done with and he'd feel at least a little better talking to Harry again now that he'd cooled down, or keep listening to something so silly as a kind distraction. Harry made the decision for him.

While it was clear he was enjoying the show, and was the least looking forward to this chapter being over as it would only put him back in the spotlight, he still cleared his throat significantly to at least get past the danger they were all feeling because of that cracking noise still having gone unexplained.

Whatever amusement his pseudo uncles had just given Harry vanished at once as Harry shivered violently. He looked more frightened in that moment then he ever had when realizing what Vernon had been doing to him. Even as Harry tried to shake it off though and just tell the others he truly hated being kept there now more than ever, there was something lingering about Sirius reading about that place...

"Well that makes sense," Lily said fairly to try and get rid of at least one of the worry lines that hadn't gone away in ages now in her son.

"You sound like Trelawney," Sirius told her for the sole purpose of switching her worried eyes to being agitated upon him. "Dreams don't mean nothing."

Lily curled up her lip at him, prepared to give a volley of colorful retorts to that comparison, but Sirius promptly ignored her and smugly went back to reading.

"Of course I would!" Sirius spluttered at once, any amusement he'd collected for himself vanishing at once. "It means it's bothering you, and less importantly, I get to know when Voldemort's annoyed by something. That all matters very much to me."

Harry studied him for a moment before simply shrugging. He knew Sirius truly was concerned for his well being, but he still hadn't found the need to write his godfather any more than his friends of the annoying pain, it would only make his letters even more repetitious and not even remotely helpful as far as he'd been aware.

"You make us comforting you sound so drab," Sirius sighed.

"And I'm confident no one would be telling you that was old news," Lily added on forcefully, she knew no one Harry was sending that information to would just write him off like that.

Remus just winced and chose to say nothing, he couldn't even pretend to say how he'd respond because apparently he didn't exist anymore outside Dumbledore telling Sirius to go find his useless arse.

"I'd suggest letting that out then, alone in the park," James told him. "Better than on someone who doesn't deserve it." Or someone who might resume  _ strangling  _ him because Harry raised his voice. He wouldn't put anything past that monster.

Harry got a rather sheepish look about him though, like he was worried that might be exactly what happened.

Lily winced at the sharp volume Sirius was using while yelling Harry's thoughts, she honestly believed Sirius was venting a bit of his own frustration in there on Harry's part as he more than likely agreed with Harry's plight. Still, Lily tried to keep up a peaceable conversation "I thought you said those were hydrangea bushes, not begonias."

Harry gave her a strange look as he said, "there's more than one flower in those gardens."

"Well that last one at least is douable just to vent," Remus forced a smile that stuck out more than ever with Harry's seemingly never ending supply of frustrated demands. "Even though it'll most likely be chucked in the fireplace, at least you got all that out somehow."

No one responded, Sirius in particular was still pouting down at the pages that his godson was so clearly frustrated with him and yet Sirius thought Harry was in the right this time. What on earth was Sirius doing leaving Harry at that place? It had been made more than clear he hadn't the faintest idea what went on there, but even if he thought Harry was having the time of his life with those Muggles he would have thought he'd be insisting to Dumbledore to at least let Harry come around to Remus' place by now so that Sirius could visit. Or even the Burrow, since Molly and all the Weasley's most likely knew him now. It really was annoying Sirius as much as Harry the longer he thought about this of why Harry was still there.

James fidgeted hard, his hands tightening around Lily's waist again in fear that was clearly gripping her as well if her small shivers meant anything. Time was clearly passing Harry by and still no attack had come. What in Merlin's beard had that cracking noise been already? It was going to drive them crazy sitting on the edge of their seats not knowing.

Remus blinked quizzically, cocked his head to one side, then the other, before declaring, "nope, can't picture it. Here I was thinking he'd break that diet and his pants in his next mention."

Harry smirked a bit, but gave no articulate response. He had no clue what had wrought the change in Dudley to physically better himself, but Harry knew he hadn't considered it much more than what damage it could now do to others which was surely fixing to be explained.

"The mailbox then," James snorted in disgust.

"I think Harry should actually be terrified for his life," Sirius blinked spastically at the idea. "Teaching that little hippo to punch with accuracy and more power!"

"I still can't wrap my head around him in any training regime," Remus had an odd expression on his face like he wanted to laugh at the idea," but I suppose the best advice always has been play to your strengths."

James shook his head at both of his friends while still vividly imagining all the spells he'd still love to use on Dudley. It didn't matter he was Harry's age, he couldn't picture anyone raising a fist to his son anymore without seeing red and Dudley was still second on the list.

"Is it because you can set him on fire with a word?" Sirius asked innocently, "because I heard that can instill some real confidence."

Harry gave an easy laugh as he fell into joshing about Dudley, avoiding mentioning that after surviving Lord Voldemort Dudley was more laughable than a hedge.

"I'm starting to wish you had to take psych evaluations before learning to play in sports like that," Lily muttered bitterly, thinking that even if Harry wasn't his victim anymore, most likely Dudley was still bullying others out there with this new found gift.

James scoffed in disgust as he pictured it, and how any complaints would go nowhere and the best thing to do would be to call the Muggle police on that boy if there was any luck. Preferably while Harry was not in the vicinity.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes as he remembered that stupid lie, but for some odd reason he had a bad feeling about his real school year to come and how it may be worth going to that center to avoid another attendance at Hogwarts this time.

"That would, certainly be, interesting?" Remus said brokenly, unsure if he was supposed to be laughing as the last time Dudley had bothered Harry he'd run off screaming to his mum about Harry setting a plant on fire, and now he'd be doing this in front of his friends. On the other hand, was testing Dudley really the best idea, as surely he would tell his parents and Harry was already in enough trouble.

Harry had an unfamiliar look on his face, but it was only because of the flashing green eyes that set the look off. Otherwise he was practically the spitting image of James, ready to antagonize someone because they'd ticked him off, to vent some of his frustrations when Lily'd just turned him down again. It was an uncharacteristic look for Harry and really showed just how frustrating his being there really was to him for Harry to be trying to vent in this particular way.

Remus rolled his eyes as he at once noticed Sirius adopting the same look as Harry, ready to rile Harry up in this clear display of fun to him, giving no regards to the consequences of what could happen if this played out. Honestly Dudley did deserve the outcome, but Remus still didn't want Harry to take any of the fall which was most likely to happen at the end of any scenario.

Lily huffed and gave Harry the stank eye for that, he knew quite well that he wasn't going to go cursing any of those boys and none of those Muggles would do any more than laugh at such a real threat to them. She understood he was angry but she could think of five other healthier ways than provoking Dudley and she was not happy to be hearing him entertaining this, but she still couldn't bring herself to scold him for it either. Dudley had done quite a lot of damage to Harry and he deserved just a tiny bit of payback, she just wished he'd think about the consequences more than Dudley squirming.

James couldn't help it though, he laughed just a bit under his breath as he was on Harry's side, his sons wit would be worth whatever fight broke out between those boys.

Harry clucked his tongue in annoyance at what he considered a wasted opportunity, but then why did he have a sudden surge of confidence he did use magic this night...and it involved Dudley.

All five of them finally gave a free laugh again, not a breath wasted on saying otherwise.

"The worst part is, I now know you're not kidding," James hissed, a fire rekindling in his eyes at that threat.

Harry fidgeted, but remembering his promise, decided against playing it off this time and weakly offered, "Well, it's better then the cupboard right? Probably because I wouldn't fit in there anymore."

"I think I liked it better when you weren't trying to be funny about this," Lily muttered in disgust.

Lily still couldn't help but clench her teeth in disgust of all of these people swallowing all of the Dursley's lies so easily. Lily could never imagine seeing such a scrawny little kid like Harry next to pampered Dudley and not questioning it, now he'd practically grown up and never had one single person said a word about such a thing?

"You're just begging for that fight tonight," Remus said with resignation.

"Least he was alone now, and not stupid enough to pull anything," Harry half heartedly defended while stopping the trembling of his hand going for his wand now. Every moment that passed left him more sure than ever something was fixing to happen...to him or Dudley. Maybe they really were going to be attacked tonight.

"And I was just dieing to know the answer to that," Sirius muttered belligerently as he flipped the page viciously, his mind's eye now vividly picturing what Harry was heading back towards, and if that cretin put his hands back near Harry again Sirius was going to have a much harder times stopping Prongs a second time.

Lily snorted volatility in surprised laughter which quickly dissolved into giggling while the other boys quickly gave a nice laugh for Harry using up Petunia's pet name like that. They were honestly starting to wonder though if they were being paranoid, if that crack really had been nothing. Harry had been alone for hours, far enough away from that house he really would have been vulnerable if anything was going to happen. They were at least trying to force themselves to relax, Harry wasn't in immediate danger, from the outside world anyways.

Sirius never would have believed he could read with such blissful happiness once again, but being able to read this after all the horrid feelings he'd already been feeling on top of yesterday's times made this mild taunting feel euphoric.

"I never would have bet he'd have so much self control," James smirked, still picturing that fat little blob sneaking sweets from the fridge when he'd been on his diet.

"Evans eh?" Sirius looked up and around curiously.

Lily just shrugged though, saying, "don't ask me, I told you my maiden names actually a common one. My dad never mentioned any more family to me though, so I wouldn't think there's an actual relation." Her face went an ugly puce color as she remembered that Harry was only there because Petunia was supposedly all the family Harry had left. If she did have some distant relative out there who was of her blood other than Petunia, she still suspected Harry would have been better off with some stranger she'd never met.

"Clearly not hard to do," Sirius snorted.

Harry felt a small smile as those around him laughed at his humor, they were clearly trying to force themselves to calm down finally after that disastrous blowout Vernon had caused, which made Harry feel all the more uneasy that the true danger was only just getting started.

Lily ran her hand through her hair with a sigh, accidentally flicking some into James' mouth, still wishing Harry wouldn't do such a thing but at least semi grateful he was doing something about it. It would be even worse to have no release she supposed, she just wished he wasn't suddenly even unintentionally mimicking his father in his school years like all the boys around her were clearly laughing about.

Sirius couldn't stop a little shiver creeping into his tone for realizing that, though he would have thought that was a good thing, such a random mention of that alley way managed to try and spring all his worrying fears of his time in Azkaban. What a stupid thing to be dwelling on now when those creatures were as far away as could be from his pup.

"Can't even bring himself to say wand," Remus rolled his eyes in disbelief at this walking dung bomb.

"No need for digging into blond jokes there Harry," Sirius critiqued. "I know you're better than that."

"Was just proving a point," Harry quickly said in defense, throwing his hands up in surrender at once of his mum giving him such a look of exasperation.

"And wouldn't that just make every one of your coming holidays," James snapped, honestly finding it a miracle the Dursleys never tried to provoke Harry, to find some way to get him expelled from a place they hated so much.

"For all he knows the crazy school of magic burns it's rule book every few months," Remus snickered.

"Well can you blame him," Lily grumbled, "he's twice the size of you."

Harry just shrugged though, he hadn't feared Dudley in a long time by that point, and while he still didn't consider himself much of a physical fighter, he was honestly rather confident by this point he could probably take Dudley on if he stayed out of his range enough and made at least one good blow of his own. He'd just never bothered as it still wouldn't win him anything where he was staying that night.

Even James was well aware they put opponents up in better racquets than that, but it still wasn't a nice thought Dudley could be out doing this to such young kids in his own neighborhood which they all honestly believed.

"Was I supposed to be impressed?" Remus mock yawned.

"Weight isn't everything," Sirius sniffed. "I'm sure Harry's still faster than him and Dudley."

"Running off a tattletale now," James sneered, still fighting back his own impulse to curse Dudley stupid.

Harry felt himself shiver just a bit, he had a bad feeling where Dudley was trying to go with that crack.

This time no one could wrangle up much humor for that jab, they all remembered what they'd heard from Harry last night and what Dudley may have been hearing for over a month now. However, if he was really fixing to mock Harry for his nightmares, that kid was in for a serious problem from the lot of them, more than he already was.

Sirius managed a laugh, but he was the only one who did.

Harry mumbled something as he shifted around uncomfortably, not meeting anyone's eyes. He tried to swallow, to say what he wasn't sure, because he only managed to cough and just gave up, waving Sirius on to get it over with.

He didn't want to, this wasn't going to go well.

"How would he, why-" Lily began sputtering in outrage. As cruel a child as she'd always seen Dudley, she never imagined he'd stoop to taunting Harry about this. He was having nightmares about it for crying out loud, surely some shred of humanity must live in Dudley for him to realize this was the very last thing you should ever taunt someone about! Harry's little jabs had been of no comparison to the cruelty of this! Yet she couldn't string all of that together, and Sirius wasn't going to wait for her to as he spewed it all out.

That one hurt the worst, and the foulest part was Dudley had no idea what he was really mocking. Harry hadn't once mentioned a thing about his parents to Dudley of all people, but the ghostly images of his parents that night haunted him nearly as much as Cedric.

Sirius finally felt some of the heat rushing his face receding in relief. He couldn't stop what he was forcing himself to spit out, mocking Harry like that even if every part of him knew it was technically another person doing it. He'd rather pull off all of his extremities than really hear someone saying things like that to his pup, and was more than pleased to finally find the part where Harry really pushed back.

James hummed in pleasure at the idea of leaving Dudley transfigured for at least a few days, might teach him a lesson or two.

Remus honesty wondered how long this circular argument could last. Harry had the most anger and power on his side, but he wasn't going to put it past Dudley to strike out in fear here soon and Harry may accidentally curse him just on instinct and get himself into some real trouble with the Ministry again.

"Did you finally do something?" Sirius demanded eagerly, but when he glanced up and Harry said nothing, instead he noticed his pup growing sickly pale, Sirius thought the answer was yes and he was just realizing how much problems he'd just caused himself. He didn't wait around for Lily or anyone else to berate him for what he'd done, Dudley had deserved it.

Then the book was suddenly in fear of falling from his too slick hands, icy chills covering him while sweat broke across his palms. He'd recognize that description anywhere, he kept imagining it happening to him in the coming months of his world going black with that cold. The oddity of it didn't sink in though until beside him Remus spluttered in disgust, "what the devil are those things doing there!"

Nobody answered him, no one had even the faintest idea. All Lily and James could think to do was praise Merlin and all their luck in the world Remus had taught Harry to do that Patronus spell so many years in advance, because whatever anomaly had caused dementors to appear in Little Winging right near Harry, it had saved their son's life.

Harry came to his senses first, a flare of protection raising his head as he saw Sirius' plight and tried to reach around and take the book from him, but that snapped Sirius out of it and he clearly wasn't having it. He held it protectively to his chest and gave Harry as superior a look as he could manage underneath that pale skin, "unless you actually died in this chapter from something as stupid as dementors when I know full well you can handle them, you're keeping your paws off this until it's your turn."

Harry rolled his eyes, deciding to leave Sirius be if he really wanted to unnecessarily prove something to them by reading about those things.

Despite her absolute confidence Prongs was going to make an appearance any moment and keep her son safe, it still didn't stop Lily nibbling at her lip in fear of how long Harry was going to have to suffer hearing her scream again before that time came.

Remus couldn't help a particularly hard involuntary shiver for that idea, what he wouldn't give some nights to blot out the moon, but it had never really occurred to him that a price that could be paid for that wish was a soul.

James honestly wished it was Harry doing this to Dudley, at least his son doing some sort of magic on Dudley would have been more laughable and entertaining than watching Sirius stutter this out in fear. He really had no clue why Padfoot was insisting he wanted to read about those creatures that more than likely were the star of his own nightmares now.

The problem was they all knew full well Dudley wasn't going to do a thing Harry told him to, Dudley still thought it was Harry doing this, so they all stayed clenched in fear as something new occurred to them. They hated Dudley for everything he'd ever done to Harry, but they'd never wanted his soul sucked out! Harry could certainly fend them off himself, but would he be able to keep Dudley protected as well? He'd kept a hundred at bay before, surely he wasn't about to witness something so inhuman happening to another person now.

Sirius was doing an unintentionally good impression of that noise in between drawing breaths to keep going. They really worried he was going to run himself out of oxygen in his strive to force himself to keep reading about the demons he kept fearing were going to ruin his life.

Sirius hadn't meant to shout that so loud he made everyone around him jump, but he honestly hadn't been expecting that word either. What on earth hit Harry at a time like this? Surely even Dudley wasn't that stupid!

James felt a snarl of outrage ripping up his throat, of all the times he'd wanted to inflict physical violence on someone rather than cursing them, this now made number one. Of all the times for that idiotic Muggle to be doing this to his son!

"My honest sentiments, really you should have told him much sooner," Remus hissed under his breath as he kept white knuckling his wand.

Sirius never would have believed he'd feel so much fear galloping inside of him for Dudley Dursley, but there was no way he could deny it was there now. Sirius had never before wished this fate on anyone, even that wretched Muggle, but the absurd imagery of this happening to a Muggle was at least helping to block out his mind's eye offering up the same image happening to him.

Lily could feel the scream building up in her throat, still unable to shake from her mind of Harry passing out around these creatures. He'd grown stronger since then, but even staring at her full grown son she still couldn't erase the fear of what those things once did to him.

Sirius might have felt bad at breaking off there with such a horrible timing, but his gaping mouth wouldn't shut and he was having problems finding his brain to keep going. It had gone from overdrive to off like a switch.

"That was wandless magic!" Remus collected himself first. "Merlin Harry, even the most advanced wizards struggle to do that under extreme pressure!"

Harry cocked his head to the side as he stared at him, something tickling in the back of his mind as he asked, "can't wands do magic without us though? Act on their own to aid."

"I've never heard of that," James came back to himself enough to say, "but I suppose none of us are wand experts either. You'd be better asking Ollivander such a thing."

Lily just shook her head in exasperation at her boy playing off such a moment and trying to divert it back to his wand like that. He really had no clue the potential he'd just enacted in himself.

None of them were quite over their panic, but that had been a healthy kick to make them realize that Harry was going to be fine! He'd take care of Dudley, though the miscreant only just barely deserved it. Surely Harry would be far more concerned for his cousins well being if something had happened to him, rather than still looking curiously into space puzzling his own question.

Sirius honestly wished he could go back and keep talking about all the insane things Harry could start training to do with this newly discovered skill of his, or even have a bloody chat about cabbages if it would get him to stop thinking about these things for even a second now. The only reason he was forcing himself to keep going instead of the cowardly impulses trying to convince him to give these pages up was that Harry was fine. His own plight was going to be worked through, because Harry would get through this.

James felt as if those own slimy fingers were gripping tightly against his own heart. He couldn't shake the image that Prongs was failing Harry now, of all times! It may have been Harry's magic and panic that was causing him to stumble over this, but he was Harry's guardian, that couldn't be a coincidence!

Lily had to resist the urge to press her hands over her ears like a child so as not to hear this next part. Her pleading screams mixed with that high cold laughter, James trying to save them with some time that would all fail...

Then Lily's trembling fingers truly did fly up, to cover her mouth to smother a gasp of fear. Her mind simply wouldn't process past the muddle of shock that she was no longer her son's worst memory, her screams would never haunt him again, and yet was this truly better? There was no such thing as a good worse memory, but somehow, in some twisted way, at least in that one she hadn't just died to save her son only for it all to have gone to waste in Voldemort's return. No, at least the vision Harry would have now was his parents truly being able to rescue their child. It would hold no real comfort to anyone, not even herself, though she had not a clue if the boys were even processing all of this in the same way she was, they were all looking ready to jump to their feat in moments and Sirius was going to keel over from forcing himself to read about this dementor experience replaying such a thing!

Sirius actually sagged back into the cushions with relief as finally Harry found his friends faces. He'd be safe now, he'd found his will, now all that was left to worry about was Dudley, still an odd enough concept he kept back those poisonous thoughts trying to cloud his own mind.

Remus found a laugh somewhere in him that still came out too strained, but he'd never deny he loved that mental imagery.

Harry blinked in surprise as he wondered if that was instinct, or Dudley had actually been trying to listen to him. He had no clue, wasn't going to ask, and had no doubts he never did ask Dudley about this experience.

Lily felt her nails digging into James' arms still wrapped tight around her waist, that warmth needed now more than ever as she forced away the image of that being Harry  _ again! _ How many times had a dementor nearly taken his soul? What would he be if not for Remus? She was more grateful than ever when Sirius found his breath back and forced himself to keep going.

The relief flooding the room was nearly visible, none of them had felt any such thing in what felt like years though honestly they'd just started this book. The trauma of what Vernon had physically done to Harry stacked on top of another near death experience all combined into one thing really was too much to process all at once!

"I'm still remembering how to breath properly from you surviving it, haven't quite gotten to the processing of why's yet." James croaked, keeping his head rested on Lily's shoulders and her curled tight into his chest while he kept a steady eye on Harry. No matter how angry he ever was at his son, it would never trump the sheer pleasure of seeing him alive in this room.

Remus honestly wouldn't believe so, dementors affected Muggles much more physically than even wizards as they had absolutely no magical ability to fight them off. It would be an honest miracle if Dudley was even still awake instead of passed out on the pavement.

Sirius felt like his spine was going to snap in half he suddenly tensed so hard, his mind filling with images of the Death Eater who had sent those dementors there for Harry, and now preparing to finish the job! Only the tiny little print could distract him from such horrid visions that just couldn't be worse than that.

"Oh!" Lily felt almost dizzy from too many things happening back to back, and that random muggle appearing like that certainly was just another level of odd.

Harry could understand his mother's suddenly faint look, his own mind was already starting to feel bogged down with shock at so many things happening to him in this one night, and it wasn't over.

"Did she really say that?" Harry yelped fiercely, tugging the book away from Sirius who was honestly relieved to have the bleeding thing out of his hands by this point. "You guys mentioned him as a member of the Order before, as well as Mrs. Figg. There's no way that's a coincidence, which means they must be the same people you know as I do. So this means the Order-"

"Don't change the subject Harry." James told him with a far sterner voice than Harry had yet heard. He honestly felt like taking another step back, never having felt so much like a scolded child. "You promised, now is the chapter over?" James couldn't care one lick what the Order was doing in that moment, or anything else in the world for that matter.

He sighed as he closed the book for answer. He still thought them being honestly ridiculous about all this, he found discussing this groups members and what this could potentially mean for plans against Voldemort far more important, but he also recognized there was just no point in delaying this anymore. A promise was a promise.

"Yes, alright, so sometimes they did things like this, but it never, you know-"

James couldn't help but cut off, his temper still getting the better of him. "No, we don't know, and it's high bloody time you told us!" The only thing stopping him from going and throttling Vernon this second, even if his hands wouldn't fit he'd find a way, was the stupid bloody magic keeping them locked in this house!

Instead of feeling outraged, or even making a move to stop them, Harry just sighed miserably. He'd known this day would come, the book wouldn't just keep glossing over everything, but he really didn't want to get into this! It was over and done with, they really couldn't do anything to him now, and what they had done had never been anything awful enough that he had ever considered telling someone, let alone running away. Even what Marge had done back when he was thirteen had hurt him so much deeper than any physical blow Vernon or Petunia could duel out.

Still, glancing around at all of their haggard faces, he decided it was high time they knew anyways. What's done is done, now and then, so him telling his family wasn't going to make anything any better, honestly it was probably going to make it worse, but he told them anyways because he felt like they deserved to know. Sirius and Remus had told him things about their past, honestly it only seemed fair to divulge something so minor to him.

"Okay, yeah, sometimes they did stuff like this. I meant it though, they never left a real bruise! Sometimes he'd cuff me upside the head when I said something he didn't like, Dudley pushed me around a lot, she swung at me with what ever was in her hand because I'd asked to do something she didn't like, just little stuff like that."

Lily had to very carefully bite her tongue for fear of mimicking James and cutting Harry off when he was finally speaking about this, but she still in no way considered any of that  _ little stuff. _

"When I got older, they all pushed me around, reaching out and grabbing me, usually by the arm, and dragging me along if I was caught doing something they didn't like, then they'd shove me in the cupboard and yell at me. I think that's what he was doing now, just reaching out and grabbing hold of me, trying to get me to stop doing something he was afraid of. When I was really little and did some accidental magic, it scared Vernon so much sometimes he'd choke me until I went limp and fell down, but it never left a bruise because he never hung on that long. Just enough that I didn't fight him when he threw me in the cupboard. That's another thing, when I got older I realized they were afraid of me." He paused for just a moment with his head cocked to the side, though this revelation was no longer new to him it still seemed to stun him just saying it aloud.

"They wouldn't ever really do anything too bad to me, because they were afraid of my magic, even when I didn't know I had it. So they never would have done anything to bad to me, because they probably thought I could magically retaliate. Besides, even if they had done something worse, I knew it would be pointless to complain about it, because they were always spreading around the rumor that I was an odd and troubled kid that they kept 'out of the kindness of their hearts.' So if the neighbors saw or wondered anything, they put it down to just 'those poor Dursleys having to deal with a criminal in there house.'"

He seemed to find that conclusive enough he'd be happy to move on, but none of them really felt yet like this was just a matter to move on from. Those Dursleys had abused Harry, physically and mentally, and it was their reasoning and lies that had stopped him from telling anyone or anything being done about it.

Voldemort was a ruthless mass murderer who had made it his mission in life to eradicate a large portion of the population, and they were fighting him because what he was doing was wrong. Then he'd turned his sights on the Potters, and he was not going to get away with that, and still this was different. It wasn't possible to hate two singular people like the four of them did, but Vernon and Petunia were going to pay for what they'd done to Harry.

"I'm guessing you never mentioned a word of this to me?" Sirius muttered morosely, unable to kick out the twisting of hatred for himself he was feeling that Harry didn't know him that well. If only he hadn't been so rash in going after that rat that night, if he'd just stuck around and been there for Harry none of this would have happened to his pup.

Harry shook his head vigorously at once, looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "I didn't need to know you long to know what a terrible idea that was. You needed to be as far away from me as possible, and you knowing about any of that would have made the opposite happen. You moved into Hogwarts backyard because my scar twinged, what on earth would you have done if I ever mentioned this."

Sirius had to breathe carefully through his nose to not start shouting at Harry about that, it should have been his decision, but still he pressed, "not even Dumbledore though? Come on Harry, McGonagall or someone?"

"Did you?" Harry shot back with a triumphant look, clearly already knowing the answer even before Sirius winced and looked away.

Harry looked around at all of them one more time, putting a pleading note into his voice, "I'm sorry if you felt I was lying by not just saying all that, but I really just didn't think it mattered to know. I hated it there, I love it here, that's what mattered to me, I didn't see the point in making you all angry by mentioning something that was long done."

Any of them could have argued the point with him, it would have been easy to spend hours having an uneasy chat about every little thing those Dursleys had ever done to Harry and then reciprocating with a loving promise it was all going to be okay now, but Harry was a grown man now. They all still couldn't help envisioning this happening to their infant upstairs, but it truly was now his decision how he wanted to handle this. He didn't technically owe them anything.

Harry had kept his promise, and while he took one last hopeful look at his dad and waited for those hazel eyes to brighten when they met, he went back to the book. His dad may even still be mad at him, but at least they were okay now.

HPHPHPHP

Total self insert about my own life, I wrote my own book. If you want to read it, let me know. You've all been so sweet about my writing on here I thought I'd give a shot at the real thing...

*Alright, real talk here folks. I did a lot of thinking over this topic, as it's such a widely debated thing amongst HP fans about what Harry really lived through during his time at the Dursleys. Personally, I think a lot of it gets exaggerated, but I never undermine that they did Harry some real harm. I kept myself to the facts and truths that I knew about, and I may have built this up a bit, but don't take my/ Harry's explanation as one that isn't terrible. What the Dursleys did to Harry was a lot more mental punishment than physical, making sure he felt as unloved as possible, which can do as much damage to you as a beating. Guess I don't really have anything else to say, mostly it turned into a big thing between him and James more so then what the Dursleys actually did, but I hope the build up to this scene was at least kind of worth it.

  
  



	2. A PECK OF OWLS

Thanks as always for all of the sweet and lovely commentary! You guys don't understand how happy it makes me to see continued support for this!

To Guest: I tried to make it as clear as possible this was just Remus projecting. I too believe he had very loving parents, but I promise the topic will continue to come up with him when Teddy pops up.

To Peregrine Falcon: No, I don't add book titles or chapter titles because I feel it gives too much away.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry still had a ton of questions, like the confirmation that Mrs. Figg was an Order member so what she could be doing hovering around him his whole life, and more details on this Mundungus and what he could be doing, and honestly a million other things about the Order, as well as the still problematic question of what on Earth those Dementors had been doing around there.

Yet when Harry hesitated in flipping to his chapter and looking at them hopefully, he knew full well they all knew what he was silently asking for, and none of them answered, he gave in and began his chapter. He was confident if they had any more idea than him they'd have said something, and he was right.

Sirius had to bite down on his tongue hard to stop himself asking what Mundungus had been doing there? What was the big deal if he had left? Figg was acting like that was the cause of the dementor attack, but that wasn't really making a lot of sense. However, it was still clear as day no one in here knew what was going on either, so they were hoping for a little more info and a lot less cat talk soon from this lady.

Harry blinked as a random memory resurfaced of that cat streaking away from the car, the very same one?

"You don't seem that surprised now," Remus pointed out at Harry's mostly annoyed face, he had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot of that for a while.

"I've been suspecting something about her since you guys mentioned her," he shrugged, "it just felt right."

"Why was I being followed?" The outrage finally burst out of him despite being unsurprised when they all looked as shocked as him at the news.

It was his mum though who nodded first and admitted, "honestly, I can see it though. We were groaning that Dumbledore sent you there unprotected, well maybe he does have the Order keeping an eye on you. At least now we know what that noise was, and there isn't even worse things around you."

Harry just looked at her in disbelief that she was considering this a good thing while he still scowled, "without telling me? I've been wasting away there for a month, and not one of them could have bothered passing me along a scrap of anything." He managed without much difficulty not to shoot a look at his godfather, he could already feel Sirius was just as unhappy about something as Harry and he assumed it was the same thing. Sirius wouldn't hide something like this from him.

Lily just leaned back into James shaking her head for an answer, she clearly couldn't say anything to Harry right now to make him even see this as slightly a good thing like she could, and none of the boys were helping as they looked as peeved as Harry at the idea he'd been followed without his knowledge, even by their side.

"Err," Harry began in confusion which temporarily derailed his anger as he recalled, "I remember Sirius could kind of sort of talk to Crookshanks while he was a dog, but..." he trailed off in confusion hoping someone would explain this.

"Well remember we said how highly intelligent kneazles were, and that Mrs. Figg breeds them for a living," Remus shrugged. "She's clearly kept her own litter and trained them to do her dirty work."

"I got that," Harry nodded, "but warned her?"

"Probably just gave the cat instructions come back with a twig or something and that means Harry's in trouble," James shrugged.

"It's nice to finally hear someone talk to Dudley like that other than Hagrid," Sirius nodded to himself.

"Neither have I, now that I think about it," Sirius acknowledged, receiving a smack from Remus for that random input.

Lily blinked in surprise as it first registered how badly Dudley had reacted to this whole instance. Yes Muggles were heard to have a worst time of it around dementors, but Dudley seemed to have full blown passed out, what had he seen? That spoiled little boy who'd never been told no in his life, surely the memory of what Hagrid had done to him wouldn't be this bad. She didn't bring it up though, in fact honestly disregarding the matter as whatever it was she'd probably never get an answer for and she was far more concerned hearing about what happened to her own son.

Remus nodded to what Sirius had said, that was like music to his ears hearing someone actually say the words to Dudley.

"You'll break your back," James gaped at his son with certainty.

Harry merely shrugged, he was well used to physical labor and while Dudley was probably the heaviest thing he'd had to carry at the Dursleys, he hadn't been able to find it in himself to leave him there for the dementors.

"She's just being no help," Lily murmured with concern, understanding Mrs. Figg was stressed and trying to get Harry to safety but continuing to yell at him wasn't doing any good.

Harry suddenly shivered, he just knew Mrs. Figg was entirely right about that and something worse than dementors was fixing to loom over him because of tonight's events.

Remus managed a small smile to himself, he always laughed whenever he heard wizards rephrasing muggle sayings, like this one was a favorite of his mother's who always said, 'we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,' when moving from one town to the next with her burden of a child after his oddities nearly got them caught again.

"I'd still consider that a bad thing," James muttered, "it would be odd for any muggle to see Harry's wand."

Lily smiled where James couldn't see, honestly thinking that muggle would find this whole scenario odd but Mrs. Figg was still right, he could write this off however he pleased, Harry needed to keep his protection up.

Sirius scoffed in disgust. If Dudley managed to get Harry hurt while he tried to protect him, that boy was going to be in even more hot water than before, pity be damned.

"That's actually a fair point," James huffed, "not just this summer, but ever. Harry was miserable growing up, and no matter what you didn't tell her it was as obvious as could be."

Harry was looking down at the next sentence in answer to his dad's question with a rising sense of hurt blocking his throat off. He'd always trusted Dumbledore, couldn't remember a time where he'd really questioned his headmaster, and this was his reward? As everyone continued staring at him expectantly when no one had a good answer for James, Harry had to clear his throat hard around a block and got out.

While the others all groaned and grumbled as that seemed to be a far to frequent thing, Remus rolled his eyes at them and said, "well at this point it's not surprising at least. He did say he wanted Harry to grow up away from that fame, what sense would it make to allow Figg to tell him anyways."

No one particularly appreciated the reminder, but they stopped gripping about the innocent old lady for now at least.

Lily still couldn't stop a nasty scowl for that, she still had reasons to dislike Mrs. Figg for this reason alone. Indulging in the Dursley's treatment of making Harry's life miserable when she should have been doing something to help her son! At the very least encouraged Harry to lie to the Dursleys when he went back while she was a friend to him!

"You'd need something faster than that," James disagreed with a sigh, his ire for Dumbledore not quite pushing out his usefulness with power right about now, Harry really could get in trouble with the Ministry for this magic until things were all said and done, and a calm voice like Dumbledore would be helpful. "I'd recommend Floo travel, but you haven't got any."

"An honest oversight on your part for another quick getaway," Sirius sighed, "but I suppose you could always hail The Knight Bus again."

"Still not fast enough unless you bribed them to bump you ahead of everyone," Remus reminded while Lily cleared her throat to cut them off.

"Well yes, after you explain why you had to use the magic," Lily reminded. "For now, all they're going to know is that you used that Charm, and they're going to try and make another note of it, something that you don't need in your life right now with how angry Fudge was last seen with you."

Harry gave an uneasy frown at his mother, he had a bad feeling not all was going to go as she said.

"And you have my blessing," Remus agreed wholeheartedly.

"Sounds like he hasn't changed much," Sirius rolled his eyes in contempt for the thief he'd once found an amusing friend. Sirius could still manage to be annoyed Harry had been followed by him, and still be angry Mundungus hadn't been doing his job right all at the same time.

"Well someone had to step in and make sure he was alright," Lily sneered while her eyes flickered to Remus and away sadly. She was honestly hoping that he might have taken up this job, at least if he or Sirius had been around Harry in Privet Drive they'd see more of what happened there and would have stepped in. Clearly not though, if this was Mundungus' regular job than that old codger wouldn't care a lick or even take notice of such things.

"No, in Merry Old London!" James grumbled, wanting to give Mundungus a good whack now himself.

Sirius couldn't help cracking an honest grin though, speaking his mind as usual, "you know, despite my annoyance at her for Harry's sake, I can't help but decide I like the old brode. Anyone who can throw around these kinds of insults is good in my book."

"You should come around her place for cake some time then," Harry snorted.

"Nah, not if it still smells like cabbages," Sirius crinkled his nose in remembered disgust, "but she can certainly come around mine."

"A business deal is better to do than looking after my son?" Lily asked of no in here dangerously, but suddenly making all the boys realize Mundungus was lucky if Mrs. Figg was the only angry woman he had to deal with.

Sirius felt a bark of laughter escape him, if he'd had any questions before they were gone now, he liked her.

Causing all of the boys to join in, even Harry came easily out of his foul mood to chuckle along at the mental imagery.

"Oh how I wish we could sit in on that conversation," James' shoulders kept shaking so hard he was making Lily twitch in his lap with her own laughter she was trying to suppress.

"That would ruin my fun though," Sirius said in chipper enough tones, but it was still very clear he meant it. Lily wasn't the only one who was angry Harry's looking after wasn't being handled by someone who wasn't this old idiot who'd run off and leave Harry like that.

"He was enjoying the show of watching you beat up the guy," Remus pointed out like that was obvious.

"That would give anyone a pause," James agreed.

"Just what would they have done if I'd gotten bored and really left myself?" Harry demanded.

"Been able to warn Dumbledore faster I suppose," Lily shrugged, as honestly she agreed with him, his being watched just didn't seem that useful if they were just supposed to be stopping him from using magic. She'd been thinking it was more to do with further protection in the Muggle area, but if that's all Dumbledore's endgame had been than it was an even worse idea than originally thought.

"Well it sure bloody felt like it," Harry grumbled, still fare more annoyed by the whole instance than everyone else it seemed who'd moved on to being annoyed by this Mundungus. Harry did admit though there was something irksome about the man as well he was having trouble placing feelings on, which usually meant a memory not yet returned he shouldn't be prodding at.

"For once," Harry rolled his eyes, causing all of them to raise a brow at him. He seemed to have turned into a belligerent teen overnight, which almost would have been funny if it wasn't so depressing to watch. They still agreed with him, he had been left alone all summer, and if this was really the thing to kick him into the action where his friends were, it was really sad.

"The poor dear," Lily couldn't help but worry. Harry's safety was far more important, but she still wished there were someone there to walk the woman home.

"Everything," he finished dejectedly as he could already see her in his mind's eye spinning away and trotting off up the street like he hadn't even spoken.

"She sure is a sight," Sirius gave one last happy smile which would likely be the last for hours. Harry was back at the Dursleys place, and couple together his earlier commentary with those horrid people and how he was arriving at the door with Dudley, no one needed much intuition to know this wasn't going to go well.

"Why would you ring the doorbell?" Remus asked while Lily whispered to James what that was. "You do by all technicalities live there, that's why you're bleeding there." The old bloodlust was already creeping back into his tone of imagining Vernon answering the door and attacking Harry at once. "Just march in there, dump Dudley on the couch and be done with your night."

Harry just shrugged as answer, he really couldn't find it in himself to explain he'd never entered that house without knocking first, it's not like he'd ever felt welcomed there. Then he remembered the last time he hadn't answered in his full thought process, and not wanting to do anything to have his dad so angry at him again, he told them that.

Again, no one hardly seemed pleased at his truth, but he was happy to see at least James smile at him for the effort it clearly took him to say that.

"Lovely," they all noted, while some irony warred with pity. Harry had vomited in this room from the stress of reliving his worst memories, now here he was watching Dudley do the same. If this had been any other person other than someone with their last name, they knew they would have been very concerned indeed for Dudley's circumstances. Now all they were really doing was picturing an amusing mental image of watching Petunia be forced to clean that up, though in all honesty it would probably be Harry instead.

Lily had to press her fingers firmly to her lips as she remembered that ridiculous lie Dudley had told his parents, though if that's what they ended up believing she really couldn't bring herself to care one way or another. Though it would further put some amusing spin in that the cure to this would be for Dudley to eat chocolate, something strictly against that diet he might still be on.

Remus cocked his head to the side as he tried to force himself to see this as a Muggle would, but even then he couldn't picture anyone stupid enough to be trying to rob such a wall like Dudley at any stage of his life.

"I might actually enjoy the rest of your summer if they go on some wild doxie chase," Sirius snorted, picturing Vernon trying to go after a dementor and vividly enjoying that imagery much more than he ever would have considered possible.

James mouth snapped open in outrage at once to know just what kind of explosion, but Harry was still reading on calmly, if subdued now like he was accepting his fate to the gallows. Least he wasn't tensed for a fight, yet.

Harry really wasn't screaming all that loud, but they all knew it wasn't meant to be kind either. Of course now that they thought about it, Dudley probably did think Harry had done all of that to him. Even now knowing the extent of what the Dursleys would presumably do to Harry in retaliation, they all still tensed in preparation for it to happen with mounting fear. Harry really shouldn't have put his wand away when he'd gotten to this house.

"Clearly nothing of lasting impact," Sirius muttered sourly, "otherwise he wouldn't still be walking."

"With the way he was talking to Harry right before this happened, he really should consider that a blessing," Remus agreed.

"Then why do you bother?" Lily rolled her eyes in disgust.

"The conversation goes by faster if I pretend to follow along while Vernon makes up his own assumptions," Harry shrugged.

"They really do make us all sound like some disease," Remus curled up his lip as she phrased it like that.

Harry watched in fascination as everyone around him flinched and paled all over again to what he found a fairly common sight. He still didn't think divulging Vernon's physical treatment of him had helped anything, the opposite as it seemed to make all their fears of the man ramp up to their highest degree, but he couldn't take it back now and seemed to decide the best way to sooth them was to read past the moment. He had every confidence at least Vernon wouldn't lay a hand on him now, hopefully he'd get that through to them eventually.

"Considering that could have been from any number of people, I can't say I'm thrilled Harry's finally getting more mail," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Hedwig better watch her little feathers," Lily muttered protectively, her hands still clasped tightly inside of James'.

"I wish," Sirius huffed under his breath.

Harry heard those around him screech so loudly, he was sure it ruptured an eardrum. He however just stared blankly down at the pages. He wanted to believe with everything he had that he would never have to leave Hogwarts before he had to, but there really was some great looming gap in the distance promising he would indeed be missing from his school for quite some time. It wasn't really because he'd been kicked out, right? Dumbledore would never let them keep him out, but Dumbledore wasn't -

"Harry!"

Harry shook himself hard, managing to push the pain back out of the forefront of his mind and offer up a weak smile to those around him. "Sorry, just really freaked me out is all, they wouldn't really expel me would they? You guys said it takes a few instances of these getting me even up to the Ministry and how rare it was, and this was only my second offense. Plus," he continued, switching from fear to anger as he pressed on, "they haven't even heard my side of it, how come they can just go and expel me whenever they feel like? Why-"

"Harry," Sirius repeated just a touch more calmly than his godson who was quickly driving himself into a frenzy. "I am positive everything's going to be fine, the Ministry doesn't even have the power to expel you from school so I don't even know what they're thinking with that. All they can do is fine you, warn you, and remind you not to use magic outside of school." When none of the color still returned to Harry's face, Sirius persisted in a forced more amused tone, "besides, if Dumbledore put up with us for all those years there's no way he'd have you leaving the place without a fight. As Headmaster, even if you are expelled, he can always chose to enroll you." He finished with a triumphant little smirk.

Harry managed a pleased enough smile for Sirius, though something in him lingered as he turned away, like maybe he should have left school for just this year, something to do with Sirius needing him far more or- he forced himself to cut off that time as his brain was beginning to feel cooked from too much thinking ahead.

Harry still couldn't stop his mouth sagging open in horror for that bit! There was no way he was losing his wand to anyone!

"But they can't do that," Lily fired up in protest. "They aren't allowed to do a thing to you until after the charges are proven, and you're allowed to give a reason of why you did the magic before it hits this level!"

Lily's rendition of the laws didn't seem to have gone in one bit of Harry's conscious, so she took a deep breath and tried something else instead.

"It's going to be fine love," Lily promised her shivering son at once. She hesitated, hating having to say so, but then promised, "it may not be the same, but honestly you can get another one." The suggestion felt cruel, like her cat had just died and someone told her to just replace him with another one right away, but the assurance that he could still have access to magical protection when he was let back into school had to be of some comfort.

For a few moments more Harry could do nothing but gape in shock at the realization his wand was still going to be broken, but his hand crept into his pocket now and closed tight around the phoenix core which gave him enough hope to continue on that hopefully this would never be a permanent fear.

"That's the only part of the bleeding letter that makes any sense," James rolled his eyes in disgust, though even that wasn't known to happen until after the third strike, this was all very extreme.

Sirius scoffed in annoyance at the pleasantries, no one would be doing very well by the end of that letter.

None of them could stand watching Harry be like this now, without a word of comfort any of them could offer. Even Sirius had claim to another home in the Potter's manor outside of Hogwarts, none of them could grasp how it must feel to only find one place on earth safe. He wouldn't even feel right at The Burrow anymore, watching everyone around him still being in school.

"Not that I ever really consider leaving that place a bad idea," Remus shrugged, "but just where do you think you're going again?"

"Hadn't got that far," Harry sighed, some lingering hope trailing in him hoping he wouldn't have to, something would happen so he'd never have to go that far.

It took a moment for Lily to realize she wasn't the only one trembling with fury at the way he continued to speak to their son, James still seemed likely at any given moment to resume his frenzied anger to get out of here and end Vernon's life if he kept treating Harry like this after he'd put his hands on their boy.

Sirius shook his head sadly as he thought of all the insane things Harry had been up to lately, and how madhouse may actually apply to his old school in some terms with the way Harry's years went there.

"If only," Harry sighed in honest disappointment, dispelling at once the hope that had lit everyone else Harry had actually cursed that buffoon.

"Three times in one day really does have to be some kind of record," James shook his head at this.

Harry paused after he'd finished with this, his head cocked to the side as he asked the others, "does that sound a little off to anyone else? Don't do more magic but don't surrender my wand, how am I supposed to do both?"

"Talk them down obviously," Sirius rolled his eyes, "offer them a cup of tea and have a nice chat before they destroy your link to magic, works like a charm."

Remus gave him an absent nudge while he honestly pondered the question. "My best solution would honestly be your original plan though, better to avoid the fight and make a run for it. Arthur's intentions are good, but you really don't have many options until this all cools down."

"Here's hoping I send him that next with that," Sirius sighed in agreement.

Harry hummed in silent concurrence and went back to reading instead of the internal struggle he felt kicking inside of him. At the point of his fifteen year old life, he honestly trusted Arthur more than Remus, maybe not Sirius, but as of now it was hard to decide whose advice he'd take more...

"Guess it depends on the branch you're talking about," Lily sighed. "He really does have a lot of influence even without the actual titles to back anything up, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if he could turn this whole thing around before the nights even up."

Harry did finally start breathing easier at that news, he had full confidence his mother was right about that at least.

"You really love that extreme punishment don't you?" Sirius shivered in disgust. "Resisting arrest is a big offense I'll admit, but they won't haul you into Azkaban for that alone. They have a few holding places in the Ministry you'd be left in until your trial, and the chances of you getting off lessen by a ton if you fight, but you're never going near that place Harry."

"Same for you," Harry reminded at once as he couldn't help but relax back as he felt the truth of Sirius' words.

Sirius gave Harry a confident smile back while rolling his eyes at his friends own pleased looks.

"Like what?" James snorted, "that you know of anyway."

"He came back after the Ministry kicked him out of Hogwarts," Harry reminded of his second year, "I guess this hardly felt like as big a deal as a student."

Lily shook her head fondly at Harry's logic, but didn't correct him if it would keep him from panicking.

"They don't have the benefit of hearing your train of thought," Remus chuckled, "otherwise I'm sure anyone would have been confused by that."

Harry could feel the interruption coming of, again, why he bothered answering these ever rude people, but he could already feel his own mind's logic acknowledging what he was sure would pop up.

"Well I guess," James grumbled under his breath, though he'd still rather Vernon's throat just be removed, that would be quietest of all.

Lily's face puckered with dislike, but she honestly wasn't even that bothered, this was the least insulting thing he'd said about her life of late. James decided he'd ask later what his government had anything to do with canines, he didn't care enough right now.

"It really is impossible for that ignoramus to hear more than one thing isn't it?" Remus rubbed at his temple at the mere thought of trying to speak to this man, rather than leaving him alone with James which was the worst punishment possible.

Harry just sighed, he honestly had no idea why he even bothered, he'd never had a voice in that house, least of all when Dudley was speaking.

That brought all the boys up short in surprise as it occurred to them for the first time, Sirius voicing, "wonder just what he heard?"

"The worst thing we know that happened to him was Hagrid giving him a tail," Lily remained with a careless shrug, "and as that shouldn't have really caused this, I can't think of anything."

Harry sat there mulling it over for a moment, and said without a trace of confidence, "I know I never ask Dudley so this is me guessing, but I like to think he's finally just getting some comeuppance and hearing all the kids he's always bullied."

"Why would that be a bad memory?" Remus scoffed, "he'd preen at the idea of all his victims."

"If the thought bothered him that much, he'd have stopped being what he was ages ago," James agreed.

Harry still tried to give his reason, "after he met someone who could take him on, Hagrid, I actually never saw him keep bullying people again though. Sure he still beat up kids, but it was always a quick blow to prove his point and then he'd leave his gang to finish. I don't know, maybe Hagrid giving Dudley a tail also forced him to grow a conscience."

"I don't really buy that," Sirius rolled his eyes, "but I don't really care either as it's about Dudley. So you think what you like pup, I'd rather hear about you not getting expelled."

Harry clearly wasn't convincing anyone else, so let the matter go.*

"I thought you said Vernon had told all that he was above doing such things," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I thought so to," Harry shrugged, before reminding them, "but I guess that one was above me, I didn't actually write these you know."

"Points for irony," Sirius chuckled maliciously. If that was the worst thing they could do to the Dursley's, he was positive he could manage that.

"Whatever it was won't have any more of a lasting impact than that stupid tail," Lily muttered in disgust, honestly thinking the Dursleys were never going to get the retribution they deserved and it would never not fire her right back up.

All five of them blinked at the oddity of that sentence, not one of them ever having thought of Vernon as a maternal person, and that was a genuinely human moment. Which only managed to make their loathing for him stay at a simmering level, managing this for Dudley and still able to act how he did towards Harry.

"That would be an interesting spell," Remus couldn't help a twisted little smile. "Someone should look into the properties of how to harness a dementor's powers and channel it into one."

"I'm sure if they did, we wouldn't even need those bloody beasts round Azkaban anymore," Lily agreed in honest curiosity, "the magic would keep them subdued if imbedded right." She had a few more ideas lingering in her head at the thought of this, but neither of them continued as despite Sirius examining his knuckles and blatantly ignoring them, no one could pretend not to notice he was starting to lose color again at the topic, so Harry quickly moved on.

"I'm convinced that's the only way he can understand anything," James huffed.

Harry couldn't help but pause there and just gaped down at the words, then looking up and around to see everyone else just as surprised.

Lily snapped out of it first, heated disgust bleeding into her tone, "why am I not surprised that of everything she would have heard me mention of my world, that's the thing she'll claim knowledge of after all these years. A place she was probably hoping I'd go at some point."

"Don't say that Lily Flower," James whispered behind her, trying to hid another violent shiver of his own. He couldn't even bare the idea of Sirius being in that place, his hands convulsed around his wife at the notion of the same fate befalling her.

Lily patted his hand absentmindedly while Harry collected himself enough to go on, though something of this explanation felt a little curved still. His mum wasn't entirely wrong of why Petunia knew this, but not entirely correct either.

"I honestly forget sometimes you two are related," Harry sighed, even picturing the woman in his head she looked nothing like his mother.

"I wish we weren't now," Lily grumbled lowly.

"What's this?" Harry asked curiously.

Lily sighed, casting a look at the Marauders, before admitting, "She's talking about Snape. She caught us one time talking about them."

She was expecting more than a few snide comments from the boys about her long ago friendship, but unbelievably none of them said a word, except for James, who simply said, "Thanks Lils, cause that was really confusing. I thought she meant me for a second, and the one time I met her, we didn't exactly have a conversation about this."

Lily all but beamed at her husband for showing any restraint and not making some crack about her childhood spent with him.

"While you were only half right, she still wouldn't have bothered," Sirius uttered tersely, he hadn't forgotten the anger he'd felt when he'd learned Harry hadn't even known his own parents names because of these bleeding people, all the injustices they'd done to his pup would never leave his mind.

None of them bothered to smother their mean laughter. It was nice to see Vernon struck dumb for even a moment, though they'd rather he'd just been struck, they'd take it.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Remus sneered, "this is the most I've heard him squirm this whole time, you won't find any of us putting a stop to it anytime soon."

"He does remember those can get into the house from other than windows, yes?" James scoffed of no one.

"I don't understand," Lily ran her hand through her hair in utter frustration of having to say that. "Dumbledore should have gone up there and pointed the laws into whatever idiots faces approved of this in the first place and the whole thing should have been redacted. Why this continued farce of a hearing?"

Something of what Sirius had said in the last book lingered in Harry's mind, 'the whole show had been so everyone could see how much he hated the boy.' Harry somehow felt that wasn't too far off the mark for what was fixing to happen to him, but he didn't think using his godfather's quote would make the pain any less if he tried to offer up a suggestion for his future so instead chose to say nothing to his mother's rhetorical question.

"At this point it's a bleeding miracle it wasn't set for Halloween," James grumbled under his breath, "then we know he'd get the book."

Harry heard a few splutters of angered disgust around him, but at this point they couldn't really be surprised Vernon would wish for such a thing so Harry ignored them.

James really couldn't seem to stop a snarl of outrage drowning out Harry's words for a moment, but he looked up at his dad in exasperation which did nothing to curb his mood but Harry still kept going.

"I wonder if we even know," Sirius' face fell another few inches as some resentment of Arthur nagged at him. He was doing far more to help Harry than Sirius ever could, he was lucky if he'd even find out before the trial was said and done.

"As they should be," Sirius muttered pitifully, all this trouble and Harry hadn't even used a curse on his intended target, instead he was being punished for saving these useless lumps on his existence.

Remus couldn't help snorting in a bit of amusement at Vernon calling them the wrong thing. Whether intentionally or he just hadn't grasped the name yet, both still showed his continued levels of idiotics, which was nonexistent to begin with.

"He actually manages to make the term even worse," Sirius couldn't help but blanch as he leaned just a bit further into the couch.

"Thanks to Harry," Lily sniffed, knowing no Dursley would ever do it, but Harry deserved to hear, "which by the way, you're owed a thanks for love. So I'll say it for them, it was right what you did for him no matter whether he deserved it or not, so thank you."

Harry just gave an absent shrug in answer. He hadn't exactly stood around and had a moral quandary over whether he should or not, he'd just reacted. His mum was right though, no one in that house was going to say this, and it still managed to touch him she'd considered giving it to him.

James narrowed his eyes at nothing as he tried to picture something so stupid happening, but he was coming up short.

Sirius couldn't stop a violent convulsion as he forced every last bit of his mind  _ not  _ to think of that.

"Sorry we can't drag this down into single syllables only," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Now that would have been interesting to see," James snorted in disgust at the idea.

Harry really did have to fight down the compulsion to stop himself giving a very sarcastic reply of, 'oh you're welcome by the way. If I get expelled from Hogwarts just remember what for!'

"I'm just getting all kinds of flashbacks to your first year," Lily offered a crooked smile.

"Now that hurt!" Sirius yelped at once, considering he'd just felt the exact opposite. He was jubilant he was even involved enough in this mess to be passing Harry any messages along.

Harry just grumbled inarticulately for a moment before commenting, "how are all these owls even getting to me so fast? Normal owl post isn't that fast, these are taking minutes."

"Well the Ministry has a way to speed owls along to their destination, they get special charms placed on them to fly them along faster than should be possible, though they never use it on the same bird twice as that could be lethal to them, and of course they have to fly back on their own to just become department memo owls after that." She realized she was getting off track and quickly retraced, "Arthur could be using the same of course, though I'm not sure how Sirius managed it," she finished with a curious look at him.

"I might have Floo'd it there," Sirius shrugged, "it did mention it fell out of the fireplace. Don't know how I know honestly, but that's all I got."

"Us?" Remus asked hopefully while everyone else in confusion.

Harry ignored that and asked petulantly, "does everyone know what's going on besides me?"

"They just haven't gotten a chance yet Harry, everyone's scrambling around to find out what happened, then I'm sure someone will tell you what they've found." Lily said with absolute confidence. Whatever motives Dumbledore had before in keeping Harry out of the loop, surely they wouldn't still apply now that it was made perfectly clear Harry wasn't remotely safe by any means at that place.

Harry didn't look very convinced, but he seemed to believe enough he kept going.

James normally would have snorted with laughter, as Sirius was far more known for sending paragraphs worth of letters full of everything he was thinking during his summer holidays. It only managed to sober James up all the more though that he hadn't once seen this of his Sirius again, this was more of this after Azkaban Sirius acting like Arthur when he'd agreed with Remus earlier, and it really freaked him out.

"I didn't realize you wanted acknowledgement for that," Remus mocked while beginning to raise his hands in applause, "let me fix-"

Harry blatantly ignored him while reading loudly, they knew full well that wasn't what he meant. He knew everyone knew he could handle a dementor, it was the other part that was rankling him.

"Hey," Sirius pouted again, wondering why Harry was taking so many digs at him when he was just trying to help, "I'm doing no such thing."

"Sure felt that way to me," Harry huffed without looking up.

"I wouldn't want to either," Harry grumbled for himself.

"He's successfully managed to say that a different way three times now," Lily rolled her eyes, "he is clearly doing it on purpose."

"Well that we can actually agree on," James groaned while letting his head fall against Lily's shoulder for agreeing with that man about something. Lily patted the wild hair with sympathy, a contemplative look on her face as she still wanted an answer to that as well. It really didn't seem in Voldemort's style to have done this, not after the show he'd made about being the one to kill Harry, surely he'd be sticking with that and sending creatures to do his bidding was above that rule, could make Voldemort look weak. A random attack then? More unlikely than Voldemort, but there weren't any other possibilities.

Lily quickly explained all that she'd just been thinking, and no one disagreed with her, none of it really made sense.

"I'm honestly curious now just how many times he can butcher that," Remus muttered absently.

"Harry, you're feeling alright now, yes?" Lily quickly asked in concern as he just kept mentioning how much his head hurt and if he needed a quiet moment-

"I'm fine," Harry quickly assured. "I certainly remember my head feeling like it was going to cave in any moment, but I promise if it was bothering me that much now you'd know."

Lily wasn't entirely sure of that, as he'd gotten well at smothering his pain in front of them to stop them worrying, but she also trusted that he would excuse himself if he really needed it.

"Those are the only conclusions he can come to, his own," James scoffed.

"I'm fairly confident when you're on the run, you don't hang around your own house," Sirius snorted in disbelief.

"Though it's some logic if you know Harry well," James reminded with an odd smirk at his friend.

Remus chuckled lightly while Harry was left wondering why he was feeling like he missed a joke, but he didn't bother to ask as he was almost done with this head splitting night.

"I don't blame you for coming to that conclusion," Remus sighed, "it just doesn't make sense with his previous history with you. Plus, why now, after all those months alone, what could have changed?"

"Maybe we just didn't get to hear the switch, and something did change making Voldemort want Harry out of the way right now instead of doing it himself," Sirius said uneasily. "I'm not entirely ruling it out."

Harry said nothing for their argument, he could just feel the real answer hadn't even been theorized yet.

"That is indeed an interesting flip of dynamics," Lily rolled her eyes, not finding it nearly interesting enough she wasn't still planning on disemboweling them.

"Because this is always a fun topic," James muttered under his breath, while Lily snuggled a bit more into his lap.

Remus could feel his jaw working furiously to hold back a retort to that while Sirius couldn't muster up quite the same restraint and voiced several colorful sentences under his breath, but both were working furiously to keep it that low in lieu of the shouting that would only make Lily, James, and Harry grow even more pale.

"When you put it like that, it really does sound ridiculous," Lily agreed absently as she began twirling a bit of hair around a finger, her mind clearly not all in this topic anymore.

"Almost makes me wish dementors had popped up sooner," Harry murmured to himself, anything other than that dull lifestyle he'd been forced to suffer through.

"While normally I can agree boredom is to be avoided at all costs," Sirius nodded, "I'd think you'd at least appreciate some of the quiet time considering last year."

"I'll take a dragon over Privet Drive," Harry reminded to Sirius' shivered disgust.

Despite Harry reading that in as bland a tone as he could to reinforce he wasn't feeling that now, much, he could still see Lily twitching in the corner of his eye and fighting the impulse to come check on him, infusing his voice with a touch of warmth as he continued.

Lily was suddenly astonished at the well of hurt that was now trying to climb her throat. She'd never forgive Petunia for the way she'd treated Harry, but what her son had just witnessed in her sister's eyes was what Lily kept picturing of her old Tuny. It's why it hurt so much to envision this shrew treating her Hare Bare like this. She had to clear her throat hard to get rid of a sudden lump, and brushed Harry impatiently on when he tried to break off.

"You know, I think I like that better than calling him Riddle," Remus snorted.

"I won't have it," Sirius sneered, "I won't be indulging anything Vernon comes up with."

"He's actually getting farther away from the word every time," James arched a brow.

"That one may have been funny if they actually dismembered you," Sirius snorted.

Harry blinked spastically down at the pages like he thought his glasses were playing tricks on him. He'd always hated it there and never been shy of saying so, but he'd also never considered the possibility of truly being kicked out like this.

"Honestly though, I think I'm impressed this has never happened before," James' face was turning an ugly red color as what had been said really registered. "He clearly despises you, why hasn't he done something before to get rid of you permanently?"

"Don't know," Harry shrugged, though he could tell it wasn't really meant as an actual question. "Not like I've ever asked him."

"I'm almost happy about this," Sirius groaned, "least now you'll never have to deal with them again. You can come do whatever I am without anyone really protesting, since clearly you won't be making an appearance at the Burrow anytime soon." He hadn't meant to sound so bitter while he'd said that, but the outrage that Dumbledore was trying to keep Harry there really was pushing his buttons, and now the irony was that wouldn't even be an option any longer, to which he was grateful for.

"I'm impressed he noticed what kind of car it was," Remus rolled his eyes at the odd detail.

Harry read that in an almost despondent way. He could actually see Vernon's logic, and while he'd never cared before this night about the Dursley's well being...he could see the point. Anyone around him was in danger if Voldemort realized that...

"I swear I got more mail in that one night than I did all summer," Harry rolled his eyes to dispel his train of thought. No need for anyone around him now to realize what he'd been thinking.

Harry shuffled uncomfortably at so many hateful glares in his direction even if they were aimed at the book, but after Vernon's attack earlier he couldn't blame them for their reactions, he just quickly read past it.

Lily honestly still questioned that. Why take in a child you had no love for? She'd honestly been pondering that question while she'd watched James have his meltdown, and she could come to no real conclusion. There was just no way you could raise an infant without love, the care it took to nurse them. Which meant that all this must have started when Harry would show his first signs of magic and their fear would begin, but how long had that taken? Long enough that they'd had him and had no more excuse to be rid of him? She still honestly wished Harry had been left at an orphanage rather than that cruel childhood he had dealt with at the hands of her extended family.

"So, ah, what exactly does that mean?" James asked hesitantly, not wanting to break a clearly open bit of honesty in his son when it came to these people.

Harry gave him a loaded look, then shrugged and said, "Suppose it just meant keep me as miserable as possible. I've now honestly told you the worst of it, if you really want me to sit around and in detail recount every time of it then we're going to be here all week. Like I could remember every stinking instance anyways."

That wasn't exactly comforting, neither the blunt honesty or the fact that this was so common place he'd lost count.

James laughed softly under his breath as he imagined the bird attacking her, then rounding on Vernon. It wasn't the justice he wanted for what they'd done to his son over the years, but a few scratches wouldn't kill them either.

"Err," everyone muttered in surprise. That was a Howler, and that bird wouldn't have dropped it in front of her if it was meant for Harry...

Harry had to give himself a kick before he could move on, everyone else was so stunned they hadn't even collected themselves yet.

"A letter?" Remus demanded, coming around enough to continue laughing at these idiots. "He dosen't even know what that is, and he just assumes it's dangerous."

"Honestly though, that's safe when encountering anything magical," Harry shrugged back.

"Like that's ever stopped a Howler," Sirius snorted as he rubbed his ears in absent remembrance.

"Who on earth..." but James' voice failed before he could get out the whole question.

"Who's last what?" Remus snatched the book away from Harry like he thought he was holding out on them.

"I, have no clue." Harry couldn't stop blinking, like that would make the surprise any less.

Lily broke first, and she flipped straight to anger. "Who the bloody hell is she in magical contact with to be receiving anything like that! She can not have spent any amount of time harassing you for doing the same when she's been doing this for any length of time!"

"You didn't see her face," Harry shook his head in bewilderment. "I promise, she has no more idea than we do who this is from."

"Is there some other Petunia out there with the exact same address," Remus raised a disbelieving brow, "because owl post does not get confused easily."

Harry kept staring at the letter a moment longer, but as the silence rang he forced himself to go on. There was just nothing to speculate, nothing at all to guess at. This was by far one of the randomest things they could have come across.

"She what!?" They were all entirely sure they'd heard that wrong. Petunia had no reason in the world to argue with Vernon, least of all about Harry. This clearly must have something to do with the letter she'd just received...which only made it all the more mind boggling! This was beyond frustrating to every one of them, they had yet to come across a problem they couldn't begin to speculate about because there were just no possible options!

Harry watched them all in a stumped and fuming silence, before sighing heavily and finishing.

"I'll buy that as soon as I do a Nimbus," Remus rolled his eyes.

"There's what we've been missing," Sirius rolled his eyes testily at the return of the Dursleys they knew and hated. He almost prefered the ones that were insulting dementors and talking about Snivellus.

"If she actually answered you, I might take back one of my death threats," James scowled at the book.

Lily winced with renewed hate at the reminder of that hated ingrain she'd put into her son, that had taken him so long to open up to them or anyone.

"That's done," Harry sighed as he passed the book to Remus.

"I think I'm honestly relieved," he sighed as he stared down dauntingly at the next page. "That argument was turning circular, clearly they weren't going to answer you, but certainly credit for continued trying."

"I still can't believe we haven't got a clue what any of that was about," Sirius huffed, feeling ever more frustrated they'd just started this one and they already had a pile of questions with no answers in sight.

HP

*In answer, JK has said that Dudley heard the screams of all his victims hit him all at once and that's what changed him. I dismissed this in the characters as what he heard though because I'm not sure if that ever made sense, after all he'd have heard them screaming while he was bullying and surely just laughed it off. If the noise bothered him so much he would have simply found reasons long before now to stop bullying. However as I've never really come up with anything else I'm leaving it open ended for fan theories which I so love.

  
  



	3. THE ADVANCE GUARD

 

To Alexis: I promise a fair shake to all characters, and Mrs. Weasley is no exception. I won't let Harry let anyone bawl her out too bad, no worries.

HPHPHP

Remus gave a bleary look at the start of his chapter, he had no doubts that not a one of their questions was going to be answered, honestly he wouldn't be surprised if even more piled up, though at this point that didn't feel possible.

"I'm fairly confident you know about as much as what's going on as any of us," Sirius pointed out, "but the leaving part is relevent yes."

"I know someone knows more than they're telling me," Harry grumbled, "they always do."

"I thought Ron and Hermione had implied they were in the same place," Lily asked.

"Just in case," Harry shrugged, some biting words trying to creep across him about how even Sirius was in the same place as them, Harry was the only one left out.

James twitched violently at all the blows Harry had gained in just one day from that place, but it was honestly of some small comfort that what Vernon had explicitly done to him wasn't a lingering pain in this moment.

Lily sighed softly as she watched that agitation reliving in her son now, he was being more twitchy from these remembered frustrations than he had when he was even in a life or death situation before. She'd wished countless times to be there for him in this future, his past, but now she wished it yet again for a new reason, to calm him and promise it would get better.

As if sensing her, their eyes met and his face smoothed for just a moment as he smiled at her, he knew.

"Honestly though," Sirius shook his head at himself, "that really is just insulting, seeing as someone should have said something long before now anyways." Sirius couldn't shake that nasty little thought of where he was, if he was so busy still out looking for that traitor he was starting to slip on taking care of Harry. What that rat had done to his godson last year to help bring Voldemort back could have easily rekindled that fire to see him punished, but Sirius wouldn't really make the same mistake twice and drop everything to go after him, right?

Harry grumbled and rubbed at his forehead for his own mind throwing questions that hurt like the dickens now just to be asked, a name should be on the tip of his tongue.

James groaned on his son's behalf, he could only imagine how frustrating that would be, and told Harry, "do you know how impressive it is to me you haven't broken yet and gone there in person? You've far more restraint than I do by just pacing and grumbling."

Harry was well aware that everyone in here had tried to leave at least once by now from a snap of frustration, but Harry knew he wasn't too far off from doing the same in that moment.

"I think Harry's going for the Snitch and trying to receive an injury on every part of himself before the nights up," Remus grumbled.

"We should count ourselves lucky if he dosen't deck the person who arrives for him at this point," Sirius agreed.

Harry felt a sharp thwap against his mind for that description which he refused to linger on.

"Haven't you learned by now not to take your anger out on your owl," Lily rolled her eyes at Harry, trying to remind him of Hedwig's deserved attitude last year.

"I hardly think that in the moment," Harry said sheepishly, though he hoped he wouldn't get too cross with her.

Harry's eyes did light with just a touch of warmth for a single moment, his owl always seemed to be more prone to bringing him back her dead catches whenever he'd had a fight with Vernon, she could just sense things about him like that.

Sirius flexed his hand in concern as he watched his pup with wide eyes, but there was pure understanding in his voice as he told, "guess I can't even blame you."

That hurt Harry worse than if he had been angry at him. He'd wanted all summer for someone to understand how upset he was, and now his godfather really seemed to, but still Harry never would have wanted him to see him like this.

Remus was honestly just confused at the Sirius in the book as well for not having done something long before now. What had happened to their Sirius who sent long, but disjointed letters like he'd been forced to stop and start it several times, the ink varying shades of dry and also full of random anythings he could cobble together to send for good news for them coupled with endless complaints of what his parents had done to annoy him this week. If Padfoot had sent him a letter like he'd been sending Harry, he'd think something was extremely wrong with his old friend. He'd tried to force himself not to linger on these changes to their friend as much as James clearly did, but some things he had problems pretending to overlook, and this was one.

"Snack for the road," Sirius forced out with chipper.

Harry watched the orange owl in the corner for a moment cleaning its feathers and ruffling up its tail to the brown cat slinking along its post at the bottom. The image suddenly double layered with his own snowy white doing the same thing with Crookshanks around, and it left a soft pain in his heart he couldn't see this again in the foreseeable future. Hopefully whenever he'd come from, someone was taking care of his owl now.

"I like to think they aren't ignoring you now," Lily still tried, her eyes still a little wider than should be as she kept trying to think of some way to get rid of this lingering anger she could still feel coming off of Harry. "It must be Ron's parents, and Dumbledore, stopping them telling you everything, which you must know would be a bad idea in letter form anyway." It didn't even make herself feel better for a moment, as letters should have ended ages ago and he should be with his friends rather than a place he detested so much.

"Right," Harry agreed without emphasis.

If anything that seemed to make Harry feel worse though as he sunk deeper into his cushion, a part of him already forewarning him not to get his hopes up about that.

"They didn't lock me in there again," Harry promised at once before the book could imply worse, "I just couldn't put up a farce of dealing with them when I was already in such a bad mood. With my luck I'd do more magic accidentally and blow Vernon over to Scotland."

"Honestly, at some point it'd be worth it," James grumbled, still infuriated Harry could be in a house full of people and not one of them were concerned Harry was keeping himself so isolated. How he could keep hearing this over and over and still feel that anger fresh every time couldn't be normal.

Lily still had the urge to curse the answer out of that stranger, frustrated beyond belief that they honestly might not get an answer for that as Petunia seemed to hate giving Harry a piece of bread, let alone information.

The room collectively groaned in frustration, they'd always hated hearing of time at the Dursleys, and it still somehow got worse every time. Now it was starting to feel like he wasn't getting any other options. The Burrow better have had a house fire or something for Harry not to have been invited there long ago. Even if they didn't know the extent of the problems at the Dursleys, it had been made clear they at least had suspicions, so there wasn't any excuse in their opinion for this continuing!

"You're not going to be expelled," Lily said at once with absolute confidence. "They just can't, the laws on your side, you've done nothing wrong."

Harry gave her a grateful smile as he envisioned her in that old courtroom, throwing the book at Fudge rather than himself for instigating all of this, then he blinked the vision away and wondered why that place still felt so foreboding to him. It helped that he truly did feel comforted by her words, so he let it go.

"I'd never let that happen," Sirius snarled at once. "You'd live in a cave with me and Buckbeak first." Sirius didn't exactly sound enthused at the idea, it hurt him he couldn't actually provide anything of use for his godson but company, but that didn't change his point.

Sirius relaxed back at once, nodding eagerly and saying, "don't know why you'd bother asking, Merlin I'm still ticked it hasn't happened already."

Harry just smiled at him, but it still felt more forced than he'd ever like. He still longed for something, anything in him to confirm this could happen one day, not this nasty ache inside.

"The Ministry does not rightly care where you live once you're no longer in school," James snorted in disgust. "You could live anywhere you wanted, even in an 'empty' house." He knew Harry wouldn't really be alone, Sirius would be there with him of course, not that anyone in the Ministry would know that.

They all grumbled in furious dispute of that, but for once Remus shivered harder than Sirius at the thought. It was more because of self loathing though. Even at his lowest, Remus still never crossed Harry's mind as anything? His life kept feeling more useless the more pages that were turned, wondering what the point of his even living past James and Lily if he couldn't be of any help to anyone.

"Thank you Harry, I needed something to envision to punch," James scowled.

"And they are telling you, because?" Lily demanded.

"To rub in I wasn't going I suppose," he shrugged without care.

All of them still felt their lips curling in disgust as Vernon continued to treat Harry like that while he'd lived there, in the loosest term of the way.

"I wouldn't even want to eat that food," Sirius stated, "I'd put it in the bin for the local strays."

James buried his face in his hands in pure frustration, both at Vernon actually doing that, and Harry's complete lack of care it being done. He had felt lethargic before, emotionally drained even, but never so much he would not kick down any door that he was locked in. He'd tried it now, even without success. What state did you have to be in to not care about this?

"I really don't get that," Lily sneered, "you've honestly never been that much of a problem to them, and yet they treat you like you're constantly on the verge of burning down that house."

Harry just shrugged without comment, he always knew Vernon saw exactly what he expected to see in Harry no matter how he acted.

"He hadn't locked me in there until that point," Harry amended, making James laugh at least as Harry truly seemed to be striving not to let himself be caught in a lie to him again.

"I'm fine," Harry insisted to those around him who had grown increasingly pale the longer Harry was left like this. "Sure I don't enjoy remembering how upset I was, but I promise I'm fine now."

They smiled grimly at him, but still that worry lingered of where his friends and more importantly Sirius were, why was Harry being left like this for so long?

Harry watched those around him tense at once with concern, that fear from the first chapter of some Death Eater ambush was clearly still on their mind, but Harry had an indulgent smile in place. He couldn't think why right now, but there was absolutely no ill will towards that noise even as the ghost of adrenaline pumped through him for his reaction at the time. He didn't think he did a good job of soothing the others, as everyone still had one hand near their pocket while Remus forced himself to keep going.

"While normally I'd actually enjoy the fun of that," Sirius gave a forced smile as he imagined some Muggle laughing while Sirius pulled his wand on them and then cursing whatever idiot thought he could steal their stuff, "now isn't a good time for anything to be in that place that shouldn't be."

"Anything?" Harry persisted innocently, causing all of them to take a step back and really asses that Harry was almost smiling for the first time since they'd started this book. If truly he felt no fear for this moment even as he rubbed at his temple to understand why, than that must mean that someone really had finally come for him to get him out of there.

They didn't get to bask long in their happy moment as baby Harry began crying upstairs, and Lily hopped out of James' lap to go fetch him. She came back down the stairs wiping angry tears out of his little eyes, clearly he did not appreciate having been put up so early. James quickly moved with her when he saw she was going to sit back in the other couch, an arms reach from Harry, and the three settled comfortably there while Remus kept going.

"You really are quick on the uptake," Remus complemented Harry's logic.

James still felt a spot of agitation Harry was locked in there, with no way to escape other than a two story drop, unless those bars had been put back up in his absence in which case his son was truly pinned down with no way out. Even if he wasn't in danger, that was still terrible for many different reasons.

"Did you do that?" Remus yelped, thinking Dumbledore might not be able to stop the Ministry a second time if Harry was doing more magic, even by accident.

"No," Harry said at once, he really hadn't quite gotten up to accidental magical levels.

"Then what on earth did unlock that?" James demanded with his eyes narrowed.

Harry felt something nagging at the edge of his consciousness, like he might have worked that out for himself later, but for now he just shrugged and crossed his fingers like everyone else another Ministry owl wouldn't be arriving.

That only made them start to feel edgy all over again. For a moment James had wondered if it had been the Weasley twins picking the lock on Harry's door again, but then it would have swung open to reveal them. This was blatant magic and someone hiding, not a good combination for his boy. If Harry wasn't all at ease he knew he'd be crawling out of his skin right now.

"More space to move," Sirius nodded absently while Harry gave him a nudge, trying to get them to all stop giving him tactical advice already.

"That's always a pleasant thing to see in the dark," Lily shivered as she pulled her baby closer into her lap. Even if every one of the Weasley's had arrived to get Harry out, which was rather odd in itself, she had no idea what was up with the surprise. Ron or someone should have thought to turn on a light by now.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise as he finally identified someone, "that's Professor Moody."

"I can't say that made me feel better," James jumped in surprise even as he smiled, "considering your last encounter with him."

"I guess they sent members of the Order rather than Weasley's," Sirius suddenly bounced with excitement, wondering what was taking him so long to run up the stairs and tackle his godson with a hug.

"You're getting more encouraging by the minute," Lily said approvingly this time, she hoped someone really was regularly taking Moody's hip flask away from him now for more than an hour. She didn't care if it sounded paranoid, she honestly wasn't sure if she could ever trust him fully again after his face had nearly murdered her son.

"Well he's got a point," Sirius shrugged, feeling all at ease now and still forcing himself not to take the book away from Moony to get to his reappearance already.

Remus would have honestly let him if Sirius asked, considering he was already ticked at himself for not being there, again.

"Something Moody would honestly be proud of," James chuckled.

"Just think for a moment if you had no idea what that meant," Lily shook her head in exasperation, "can you imagine how confusing that would be."

"Well then it's a good thing we got backstory," James rolled his eyes at her.

This voice was even easier to recognize than the other as Harry yelped, "Remus!"

Remus jumped at first in confusion, then surprise as he eyed Harry, then the book like he was sure someone was lying. Then his face cracked into the widest smile in days as he demanded, "really?"

"Yep," Harry beamed.

Remus still sat there looking dumbstruck for a second before Sirius smacked him on the back, still bouncing around like he was sitting on a spring, "well I'm not surprised. Bout time Moony's made his reappearance, I'm sure you've been busy and you're dying to tell Harry what you've been up to." He seemed utterly confident of this, that Sirius himself had dragged Remus along so that the three of them could have a chat while the rest of the Order did whatever to get Harry out of there.

James and Lily exchanged delighted looks. James was ready to burst with happiness Remus was back at all, he couldn't deny he'd been just as worried about him as Sirius, it wasn't natural to hear about one without the other in his opinion. Lily was just as relieved, she honestly worried herself now about how Remus took care of himself when he wasn't here, and thirteen years of solitude before he got Sirius back clearly hadn't been good for him. They both deeply wanted to know what he'd been up to, both before and after he'd made the stupid decision to leave school.

Remus was in such a good mood it was almost passable as he hid a wince. 'It's your own fault,' he mentally scolded himself, 'you haven't given him a reason to call you anything else.' Yet the contrast to Harry sitting next to him leisurely and Harry still at fifteen only calling him a title stung like he wouldn't have believed.

"Is she mad!" Lily balked. "He's in trouble because he's done magic, now she's being utterly blatant."

Harry still managed an indifferent shrug as his smile kept widening at this new voice, there was something in the tone promising he liked this person.

Harry was in such a good mood, he hardly even rolled his eyes at being on display like this.

Remus kept reading loudly past anyone who was trying to make a comment about that.

"Explains the idiocy," Lily rolled her eyes at the idea of the Order sending some child to fetch her son.

"Well I like her," Sirius said at once with a chuckle at that description, "any girl who can get away with that hair shade gets points with me."

Sirius' face suddenly fell though as he realized he hadn't been mentioned next to Harry or Remus, which clearly meant he wasn't there at all.

Remus too realized this and turned curious eyes on him, but Sirius managed to wave the moment off, his eyes only just a bit tighter but his smile hadn't even dimmed. "Nah, probably had to do something just before this got started," he broke off without coming up with a good reason why he wouldn't come see his godson the second he could with this group, but still waved Remus on to get to that part already.

James and Lily still managed to exchange a proud smile for how their boy had turned out.

"Can't even blame him for that one," James frowned sadly at the thought of what his idol had been through.

"That really is one of the easiest tells," James agreed fondly, a smile lighting right back up as he always enjoyed being reminded of that.

Everyone full blown cracked up laughing at the imagery, even if they would have given the same warning.

Causing further giggles to erupt the girl had asked!

"Now I definitely like her," Remus chuckled in agreement with Sirius. "She's got some spunk doing that to him."

Remus rolled his eyes at himself, it had been long enough since he'd seen him.

"Maybe it was," James grumped, "and you just weren't in on it."

"That didn't make me feel better," Harry pointed out with a sigh.

"Not like that actually makes a difference," Lily pointed out.

"Oh are they though?" Sirius leered, thinking of the timing of this.

Everyone burst out laughing again, even Lily let her original ire melt a bit at the girl doing this to the Dursley's. She was already made clear she was good for a laugh, and they were all eager to find out who she was already.

"Afraid of his reaction when he comes home?" James demanded, smile dropping at once.

"It certainly wouldn't be fun to be around," Harry shrugged with indifference. He'd always been yelled at for anything going wrong, and some prank would most certainly fall under that. Still he was quick to reassure their worries he wouldn't have done much, just shouted at him to get his frustrations out. For some reason that didn't make them feel entirely better.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Lily sneered, she'd always hated people eyeballing her son, and these were supposed to be adults!

"Is that why I haven't been out of there before now?" Harry asked, thinking that really could have been put in a letter to at least appease him.

"Don't know," Sirius shrugged, "we move our headquarters all the time to stay undetected, but those places are usually flimsy at best and even more a meeting place than an outright Headquarters."

"Sounds like the Order got an upgrade," James agreed, a funny feeling buzzing in him he wasn't, would never be again, apart of it.

Lily had to fight the urge to demand someone take that away from him.

"I wonder how far away that thing can see," James asked as he pictured the sky above him and all the stars.

"I never asked," Harry answered.

"I'd imagine not too great a distance," Lily shrugged, "but who knows, maybe he can see all the way to Australia."

"Do I not know you've met?" Remus demanded, already feeling a rising sense of anger at every little thing he did.

"Don't know," Harry shrugged as he didn't seem too concerned with it.

Sirius had to work hard for a moment before saying, "I'm sure I've kept you up to speed, with everything I know at least. You're probably just going to introduce everyone, just for clarification to him." Then for a split second, Sirius wasn't even sure if that was true. He'd claimed to have forgiven Remus in the Shrieking Shack, but not once afterwards had Sirius made mention of his oldest, and now only friend. Had he really forgiven Remus? He viciously kicked the thought away to not be lingered on. Didn't matter, he was still his Moony now.

"That is fair," James agreed absently as he watched the two, clearly something was bubbling between them, and while James got Remus' problem, he wasn't sure what was suddenly bothering Sirius.

Sirius was instantly distracted by something snatching at his mind before he yelped, "oh," in surprise.

"You know her?" Lily demanded.

"I think my cousin Andromeda has a daughter she named Nymphadora. We keep in loose contact since she's the only living member of my family I can stand." Sirius offered with a look of concentration. "Hold on, what's her surname?" He directed at Remus in hopes he'd finish. True it wasn't exactly a common name, but he'd still rather be sure.

"Yeah, Tonks, that's right, that's the Muggle-born she married named Ted's surname. She sent me a letter about it when the little bloom was born, but that was already what, seven years ago now. Only saw her twice when she was just a baby. Kept meaning to go around and visit her more." He finished with a triumphant little smile that wavered just a bit as he added, "glory, she's as grown up as Harry and I never even meet her."

Remus' frown turned sharp as he turned on Sirius, fixing to tell him off that wasn't happening and he could go see her whenever he wanted, but James cut in with a lighter joke instead. "Well Remus is clearly still some fun, he could have introduced her the way she wanted, but oh no, he just went for the full name, clearly to annoy her."

Remus chuckled but didn't deny he could see himself picking on her already if she'd return in kind which seemed obvious.

Harry had an odd smile in place as he watched Remus for a moment, one that Lily thought she'd seen when he heard of Ron and Hermione's argument back during the Yule Ball. Harry could feel it in his mind, like two bits of metal being struck together and waiting for something to spark, but the memory refused to solidify any further and he mostly ignored it for now.

Sirius started snickering at the idea of this girl, it was clear she'd inherited her mother's spirit already, he knew he was going to like her.

Harry blinked curiously at the name, sure for just a moment he might know him more than just a passing person like his mind was telling him. Something about Dumbledore...

"Squealing every time you meet him isn't technically meeting him," Lily rolled her eyes even as she did smile a bit, she'd always liked him and he always asked to hold her son at least once every time they met.

Lily actually whooped with excitement to hear she'd lived long enough to see her neice be born, a topic she wouldn't stop discussing when they met up.

James felt himself sitting back in relief as well, Sturgis had been in an undercover mission for the past two weeks and hadn't been at his last check in, they were already starting to wonder if he was another lost soul. Clearly he would make it back though.

They were equal amounts as surprised as they were pleased that they only didn't know three names, Kingsley, Hestia, and Tonks. It was a good thing they supposed, that Dumbledore still had so many trustworthy people, but something about it seemed blackened as they heard these names. That Lily and James couldn't be a part of this, nor so many others. They'd heard of so many deaths and disturbing things happening to the ranks, and now they knew the source of who was behind it for those dwindling numbers, and it  _ hurt. _

"You already have that look written all over your face," Remus had that same twitching mouth now, Harry noticed, giving him the odd impression of seeing double again at the man in the room double layered with him fourteen years older and much more weathered. Still, it was honestly fun for him to see the Professor he knew acting like someone he had been seeing as an Uncle lately act the same.

"Honestly, I think I prefer him calling you that," James said conversationally, as Remus still twitched uneasily every time he realized Harry was going to keep calling him by his last name only. "Makes it a tad less confusing than you referring to yourself."

"Sirius gets through it just fine," he muttered petulantly while reading even louder over Harry trying to say something. Either apologize or something else, Remus found it his own fault Harry was doing it so his problem to deal with.

"She clearly hasn't met many Muggles then to not have realized that," Lily said a bit grimly as she still hated the idea of that house. To shake that off she directed at Sirius, "you should bring Andromeda around Sirius, if you like her so much."

"I keep meaning to bridge the gap," Sirius shrugged, "but I just keep forgetting and then getting busy. I know you want Harry to be around more kids though, so I promise I'll get on it," 'if we ever get out of here,' he finished mentally but it went unsaid.

Lily snorted in surprise even as her maternal voice didn't quite kick into the scolding, "bit rude to dismiss her?" She couldn't even blame him though, she'd be a bit short with someone gaping at her as well, but at least this Tonks was trying to make conversation.

"He's kind of the only one I trust at the moment, and finally someone to talk to," Harry shrugged, at least seeming to make Remus better for just a second.

"They all hate hearing the name that much huh?" Harry chuckled at what he saw as an overreaction.

"I think they're just being a little paranoid," Remus shrugged, "we don't usually discuss those types of things in places we consider unsafe, it's not out of the range of possibilities we could be watched."

"Are you going to get that smirk every time you say something that turns out to be true," Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus who kept flipping back and forth so much lately he was giving them a coronary. Moony was known to be moody even a few days after a full moon but this was getting ridiculous.

"Have I ever not?" Remus asked innocently enough.

"Thank you for the reminder," Lily squidged up her face in disgust at the idea.

Which turned into a full blown grimace of disgust while the boys honestly looked intrigued at the idea.

"My sentiments," Lily shook her head while Remus snickered at someone saying that to Moody's face.

"Past that," the others muttered, not even blaming Harry if he snapped and told them to knock it off soon.

"Can he see out of that when it's not in his head?" Sirius requested.

"Never asked," Harry shrugged, again. He was always far too afraid of Moody to ask him for anything, and that detail had hardly changed after the near murder experince.

"I'd imagine no," Lily pointed out, "the magic would have to be attached to something for him to be able to see out of it, not strictly attached to the nerve."

"More importantly," James' grin had turned scary, "please tell me you don't bother putting that up before you leave, I want to hear that one of the Dursleys took a drink out of it."

"I don't stick around to find out," Harry chuckled, having no clear memory of doing anything with it after this, so maybe James got his wish.

Harry got a bad feeling at the idea, of a group of Wizards traveling with him from the Dursley's house including Remus, Tonks, Moody- his brain suddenly fizzled out and he just settled for reassuring his mum that everything would be fine even if he didn't feel it at the moment.

"Well someone's been bragging," James chuckled.

"I'm sure I'd never exaggerate," Remus grinned.

"Then someone should have sent him a letter for warning," Sirius rolled his eyes at himself, thinking he definitely could have phrased that to give Harry some forewarning, and still annoyed at himself for not being there.

"It's not a home unless it's lived in," Lily smiled in agreement, eyeing some of the baby things she had scattered around and a few heavy treads in the carpet that had honestly been there before these readings, the boys had just made them more obvious.

"There is no correct answer for that," Sirius said at once while James rolled his eyes and corrected, "you tell her she looks nice and then take the fallout even if she disagrees."

Lily pouted at him, fixing to protest she never told him off when he did that for her, but Remus was ignoring the lot of them.

"Ha!" Sirius barked while James rolled his eyes.

"Wow," all five of them uttered in surprise, though for two different reason.

"How did she do that?" Harry yelped in surprise at the same time Remus said, "you didn't say she was a metamorphmagus."

"I didn't know," Sirius had a full blown smirk in place, "guess Andromeda was saving it as a surprise till I came to see the little nymph in person. Guess that got spoiled."

"What is it?" Harry persisted curiously.

"A born magical ability, to change your appearance at will," James explained. "Very, very rare, only passed down through magical bloodlines and often skips a few of those."

"I bet Cygnus and Druella are pissed," Sirius had a nasty smile in place as he imagined their faces. "They disowned Dromeda when she married Ted the muggle-born, now their granddaughters got this rare gift they can't even claim credit for."

Harry was fascinated by the idea, though there was something trying to snatch up his attention in the back of his mind as his eyes casually flickered to Remus, then his own infant self in a redhead's arms- his brain felt like it had been sucker punched already and was thankful Remus was moving on.

"I think I'm falling in love with this one," Remus said dramatically as he outright laughed now. "Glory Sirius, she's reminding me of a female version of you."

"Keep dreaming Moony," Sirius rolled his eyes even while he smiled proudly at that little toddler growing up to do something so spectacular.

His parents and Harry snickered at the pair, Harry hardest of all.

"Adds to her personality," James grinned, he'd applaud the girl in person for wrecking anything of the Dursleys.

"This is certainly distracting enough," Lily smiled sadly for her boy, "but no, it's not something you learn, everybody else still has to use potions and magic to change their appearance."

"Least she took longer than most," Harry sighed as he flattened his bangs.

"Look at you distracting her," Sirius grinned at his little pup already swooning the ladies.

Harry rolled his eyes at the tone.

Lily couldn't help frowning again though, there she was again using magic at her discretion with no regards to being in that Muggle house and Harry being in a heap of trouble. She hoped he offered a really good explanation when he remembered it.

Harry raised an impressed brow as he said, "now why hasn't that spell been taught already?" He may not have ever been allowed to use it at his house, but it would have made packing at the Weasley's better.

"Some spells they actually don't teach you during school," Lily shrugged, "that's a widely used charm that just passed from word of mouth. Molly's probably never done it for you because she's clearly the kind who thinks it's good of you not to get spoiled."

"I think that's just a mother's gift," James grinned in agreement, "Lily's always been nifty at Charms so it didn't surprise me she does that, but my mum's the same way."

Causing more giggles and Lily an affectionate, "oh well, I'm sure she'll get there."

Sirius' grin turned pompous at once. The treasured object hadn't even been used in Harry's last year except for one time Sirius would have rather done without hearing. At least now it was earning some more proper attention.

"I'm going to take a pin to your head," Lily threatened Sirius, more for James benefit than anything as she caught him rolling his eyes over something he'd normally be squealing and agreeing with.

Sirius just stuck his tongue out at her without further comment.

Harry theatrically wiggled his butt in his seat while the others around him giggled at the reminder of that.

The potato peeler at least James recognized as his wife owned one, she was prone to cook like a muggle even still and he found it fascinating to watch. He had no clue as to a microwave though, and was more than interested at Lily's quick whispered response.

"That had better explode in someone's face with lasting damage, or I am officially taking away your Marauders card," Sirius declared.

Remus contemplated pushing his friend off his seat in hopes he'd hit his head and knock some sense into him, but this had never worked in the past, so he elected to ignore him instead.

"They won't," Harry rolled his eyes at the same time Remus finished sadly.

Remus wished he could laugh like Harry did, he just couldn't bring himself to find that funny because it was true.

"No, I mean it, ask about this," Lily huffed under her breath, long since giving up the hope anyone would, but unable to stop the words coming.

Remus winced in annoyance because he agreed with her, he wished he didn't think this was a joke.

"I think I had a Padfoot flashback," Remus told those around him as he gazed down at his depressing response. "Sirius made that comment all the time before he got off the train."

"Yeah, I suppose," James grumbled, still wanting to whack Remus over the head for taking it as a joke instead of really asking what Harry meant. Sirius had never meant it as a joke either though, and they'd never badgered him for details until far too late either.

"Wouldn't he know about that anyways?" James asked in surprise. "If I left it to Dumbledore, surely the whole Order will be using it here soon."

"Maybe Dumbledore never told where he got it from," Lily shrugged.

"That's so cool," Harry's eyes lit up childishly pleased at the idea of this.

"Not as cool as the cloak," James swiftly reminded, "it wears off, and it's still easy enough to detect someone under that if you're looking."

"Quit being all paranoid over there dad," Sirius pouted at him, "let the kid enjoy the moment."

Harry suddenly flashed concerned eyes to Remus, who just chuckled as he kept going while Sirius told Harry Moody was just exaggerating, if Death Eaters hadn't attacked yet it should be fine.

"Well he's just a right comfort," James snorted even as he did watch Remus just a little more closely.

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times as he had no clue how he was supposed to respond to that, let alone point out he had no clue which direction was east.

"But I sure hope they're taking you to see me," Sirius cackled while everyone else was still giggling over Tonks' comment, so Sirius got to delude himself for a moment everyone was laughing at his wit.

"I really wish he'd stop mentioning that though," Harry murmured, not particularly comforted that Mad-Eye saying this put him ill at ease for this plan, but he was having a problem looking around the room and not meeting anyone's eye. He was being ridiculous of course though.

"Moody wasn't kidding about that second group," James raised a curious brow at the complexity of this plan, though he was still convinced it wasn't all necessary, there would be no attack, Harry and Remus and everyone was going to be fine. Voldemort wouldn't be stupid enough to attack Harry up in the air like that surrounded by so many people, he clearly prefered sneak attacks and getting Harry alone so his son and friend would be safe.

"Brooms have been known to develop a bit of a personality as well as any magical object," Lily agreed with a small smile for Harry's suddenly beaming face he was finally being free of that place.

Harry could finally feel some of the tension leaving his body as he relaxed back into his seat since this book had started. The memory of flying left him aching to go try it now, and he clearly wasn't the only one both finally grinning in relief from the release of that place and a want of their own.

Remus had never been much of a flier, but even he was starting to feel restless and wanting to go have some fun out in the air now. He'd had to learn while he'd stayed a few times at the Potters, James would have nothing less, and he was suddenly more grateful than he ever had been before for those lessons.

Everyone else was already doing the same, all of their fears even temporarily being lifted felt like a haven at the thought of Harry finally enjoying himself.

Lily smiled warmly as she wrapped a blanket around her little Hare Bare for just a moment, more than happy he was away from that place that caused him so much misery, but wishing he'd put a jacket on first.

"He really wants to pass through a cloud at that altitude?" Remus arched a brow and shivered at the thought.

"Here's hoping Tonks isn't the only one who'll tell him what she thinks," Sirius agreed.

"Or she can still do it," James chuckled.

Harry saw his mum twitch at the thought, so he gave an exaggerated stretch and nestled into his cushion with content, causing her to smile again.

"Thanks, I really wanted to be reminded of that," James shivered, he hadn't thought he could feel lower than that time had caused him.

"How far away is this headquarters?" Sirius muttered, trying to map out in his head how fast Harry could go on a broom and the directions they'd been given.

"Thought that was one of your least favorite ones," James kept things light by giving his glasses a nudge in reminder.

"You'll want the thing you don't have at the time when you're dealing with the bad," Remus reminded without looking up, causing James to roll his eyes at him.

Lily still couldn't help an uneasy twitch as she realized how on guard they all were, a good thing for sure, but still worried at the necessity of so many coming to get Harry. Was there really a danger, or had Remus really just been playing off the moment?

"I really hope you get to know her quite well while you're hanging around the Order," Sirius' grin kept widening when he heard this. "I can already tell she's going to be fun to have around."

"Anyone who can holler at Moody like that will be of high entertainment," Remus agreed.

"Don't worry, there's a charm for that," but Lily grinned in a way Harry honestly wasn't sure if she was kidding that time.

Sirius may have been trying to follow Moody's directions, but he still wasn't sure if he was picking the right area Harry was in, as Moody could have been going some roundabout way and Harry may not have even caught it all. The curiosity was high all around of where this new headquarters was, wondering if it was so good they could suggest it to the Order now with one glaring exception.

"Look, Dumbledore's thing is back," James beamed.

"Here's hoping we'll get a better explanation of it," Sirius agreed, he still wanted to know how to get his hands on one.

"This place sounds like a dump," Sirius smirked as James finished for him, "perfect cover."

"Err," they all muttered in confusion at something so random happening just as Harry got there.

"Familiar from where?" Remus asked.

Harry had to think hard for a moment, he'd recognized it at the time but hadn't thought much of it, but now his eyes blinked as he grasped, "it was the same writing that had first given me my cloak. That's Dumbledore's handwriting."

Lily frowned in confusion of why Harry was being passed a message from him now right as they were about to enter and more likely see the man.

Sirius at first laughed. Then he did a double take as he realized Remus wasn't joining in, then he turned popping eyes to James who held the same look of shock confirming he had heard that right! Then a million things toppled through him so fast he hadn't a second to process a thing as Harry asked, "what?"

"My brother's dead," Sirius answered simply, gazing at nothing.

HPHP

* All the moments where magic was blatantly used always bothered me, it's just never explained and it annoys me. I'll explain it in the next chapter and say how that plot hole could have been fixed, just thought I'd let you guys know now.

  
  



	4. NUMBER TWELVE, GRIMMAULD PLACE

To DiamondGoddess: Harry got into trouble in his second year because Dobby used magic in his house. That leads me to believe that the rules stating Harry isn't allowed to use magic isn't especially known as Harry doing magic, but magic being done in his house. The Ministry should have been aware and sent him more mail about more magic being done in his house, but it's never brought up again, so I'll have to do it for the book. Wizards are indeed expected to use magic whenever they want of course, and if they'd done it in the house over then it wouldn't have been any problem at all. Hope that makes sense, thanks for the review!

To Payton: I plan on dropping more backstory between Sirius and Andromeda as the story goes on, but I didn't want to dump it all at once.

To everyone asking, Harry is physically twenty, but yes emotionally he's fifteen right now.

Thank you to everyone who pointed out I did indeed get Tonks' original age wrong, I really need to go back and triple check my math before I post.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

"I'm sorry," Harry said at once, dying to know the name of this brother as he felt entirely sure he'd heard of for some strange reason. It was odd though, as he was confident he'd never even met another Black besides his godfather, but there was something he was missing in that connection-

This was clearly the wrong response though, as Sirius snorted softly and shook his head, waving the apology off and muttering, "nah, just surprised me a bit. We were only close before I started school, then I think we never had more than one proper conversation." His face twitched for a moment as 'conversation' was not the right word to describe his last real meeting with his brother.

Quickly forcing himself to stay on track he smirked, "Thinking about making a toast my deranged parents have finally gone beyond the veil though. Just, you know, thought my brother really was smarter than what I knew he was going to do." Really, the blow wasn't hitting anywhere close to him finding out he was going to lose James. It wasn't even that hard to imagine, as Sirius had told Regulus this was his fate when he went to join Voldemort's crue. Still, the thought wouldn't quite hit the smug feeling he thought he'd have at being right. He'd said a lot of harsh things to Regulus during their last meeting, and he had in return. Now there was a highly likely chance they'd never even make up for it.

What he was really left wondering was how soon until it happened? Had someone in the Order already done him in without even realizing it? They didn't always take off those Death Eater masks when they did a body count as more often than not they were in a hurry after those kinds of fights happened.

Remus wouldn't let him linger on the thought long though, an odd twisted smile in place as he said, "I'm trying to figure out how this even came about? The last place on earth you'd have a poke around after you got out was this place to even realize you were now the only heir."

Sirius could only shrug for that, almost wishing Remus was joking, but even now he couldn't imagine the point in looking up where his Death Eater of a brother was staying, Sirius couldn't imagine he'd have bothered looking him up after twelve years in Azkaban.

James was watching Sirius' face become steadily more drawn with confusion as he kept thinking about this, so he butted in saying, "no offense Sirius, but I still can't imagine why the Order wound up there. Last I heard, you weren't even in line to posses such a treasured object as the Black house." The way he said treasured object made it sound like a bomb about to go off.

"I've no clue," Sirius shrugged. "She may have disowned me and blasted me from that stupid wall, but maybe the blood magic binding that house never left, or she couldn't figure out how to erase me from it." Then his eyes brightened as he truly grasped what he was saying, and he full out laughed. "Merlin's Holy Socks, that place is the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters! Oh this is brilliant! That woman's surely having fits in her grave!" He dissolved into insane giggling that James quickly joined in on.

Remus passed Lily the book and Lily quickly gave her child to James as she went to start, trying to ignore the boys while Remus still had an unfocused gaze. Sirius may enjoy the irony for now, but he'd seen his friend the last time he'd been at that place, and he wasn't looking forward to hearing how Sirius was going to be acting inside that house. He found it funny from the outside, where the description had fallen so far none of them would have even guessed it as the same grandeur place of Sirius' childhood home, but even knowing what it's usages were, he was sure old Padfoot was trying to spend more time out of that place than in it. He probably wasn't even there now when Harry arrived, or maybe he would brave those dank walls again to see his Godson. It was an honest coin toss.

"Which reminds me," Lily butted in before they could go too far into the story and she could question this now after Sirius had gotten over his shock. "What even was the point of Dumbledore writing you that note just as you were outside the house? Surely if he wanted you to know the address they'd have just given it to you at the Dursleys. What's the point of the note at all?"

"Hope I ask Dumbledore," was all Harry could say.

Sirius blinked in confusion as he again recalled such a disgusting neighborhood that seemed to have fallen well out of shape from his time there. Surely that had all happened after everyone was dead, but what on earth was happening to make the house completely not there? There was already a ton of enchantments set in place so that no one could enter unless they were invited in, how much more had Dumbledore done to the place to make it safe?

"What in the world?" Remus demanded as he studied the book like it too would suddenly grow its own house.

"That sounds like the Fidelius Charm,"* Lily wrinkled up her own brow as she tried to understand this magic she'd never seen used. Her hand automatically sought out her husbands and they held tight to each other for a moment as they remembered all that spell would lead to for them.

Sirius' face had screwed up with the force of his trying not to automatically start screaming and shouting at the mention of that Charm again, what he'd lead his best friend into all because of his mistake. He couldn't fathom a second how he'd ever worked out that rat was in any way an better option than Remus or even himself, this is what he got for trying to be clever with some decoy, his friends death. Merlin they should have just used Harry since he couldn't have given the location to anyone!

Remus gave Sirius' shoulder a sympathetic squeeze, whispering some words of comfort, but still waiting for Sirius' terse nod before waving Lily to continue.

Sirius was now in far less of a good mood as he imagined going back into that house for even a second, not even the thought of his old hag of a mother's angry face could make this amusing anymore and now he hoped he'd just spot Harry coming in and drag him right back out for some quality time.

"You guys were starting to freak me out." Harry hadn't meant that to come out as a whisper, but the mention of that charm had seemed to sap all life from the room and he couldn't think of anything better to say.

"That's sound advice though," Sirius ground out for Remus. "That place is a walking death trap if you don't know what you're doing." It wasn't even entirely the house's previous occupants, there were a lot of objects in that place even Sirius had never fiddled with too much after he'd once seen Regulus stick his nose into a box and come back out with it almost scale covered. His mother had fixed him right and then scolded Sirius for letting his brother play in that room.

Sirius couldn't help it, his original good mood on the subject had vanished, and the more he thought about it the more he realized he didn't care of how much good use it was being used for, he really didn't think it was worth it just for all the memories that were sweeping him he'd thought he'd repressed because of this place.

Harry was watching Sirius growing more and more agitated as this carried on, and Harry was starting to feel the same way. Harry could just feel the emptiness and hatred pouring out of the walls of that house and something of thinking about Sirius in there cut him deep, which was odd when he blinked again and felt like he'd grown used to the old building...

"Why are they still whispering when they're inside?" Lily asked in confusion, her own voice sounding a little loud in the suddenly eerie quiet of this room, but she wanted to at least try and keep some level of normal about them.

Sirius wasn't helping, for once he seemed to have no need to voice his opinion about anything as he just shrugged and kept his eyes on the fireplace instead of that book.

James watched a smile creep back across Padfoot's face, but it was a twisted looking thing full of mocking hatred that his mother's precious house had clearly fallen into such disrepair.

Harry at first felt a smile flash across him at her reappearance again, then he blinked and all of those feelings he'd felt over that summer began simmering just under the surface as he muttered, "so Ron's really there, right at Headquarters."

Remus gave Harry an uneasy look for that tone, but had no real response for him. He wanted to say more than likely that their kids were all old enough to be home alone at the Burrow, but even that wouldn't have felt like much comfort to Harry as he could have just as easily been there with them as well.

Lily sighed in sympathy, she knew she often looked just as strained after Order meetings.

"He always looks peaky after he leaves that place," James grumbled.

"Finally," Sirius muttered, "I'll consider this whole place worth a visit if you go give Dumbledore a good telling off for your summer."

Harry made some frustrated little noise both in agreement, and depressed that he wasn't even a little convinced this happened.

"Hey," they all suddenly pouted. Harry'd been left with nothing for a month, how long was he going to keep being held back?

"You mean Harry isn't automatically one?" Sirius began glaring at once. "I mean, he's kind of the whole reason the Order exists again, I think that automatically qualifies you."

Lily watched the boys around her automatically agree, but suddenly some of her protesting dimmed as she glanced down at her infant. She of course would be going crazy not knowing what was going on, she certainly was during school with no way to help. That didn't mean she wanted to toss her son into this though, she was fighting now so her little infant never would have to. She couldn't claim she was really against him sitting in on this either, but she just wished he didn't have to.

"I meant why can't I come, but that's odd too," Harry rolled his eyes.

"So he's going to stay there the rest of the summer?" Lily blinked in confusion, not really wanting to imagine her son sleeping in that place, couldn't he just Floo to the Burrow from there?

Her question was drowned out by Sirius' louder one though.

"Why is Molly even the one doing this at all?" If Sirius' face got any more sour, he'd have that puckered expression made permanent. "I should be the one up there greeting my godson, and I'd let him down there. What's she think she's doing?" No meeting should be important enough it would stop him seeing Harry again.

Remus could only offer his original idea, "Maybe you're not even there, even now imagining trying to get you inside there would be a living nightmare. It would be easier to train a niffler."

Sirius just huffed and grumbled something as he didn't find this a better answer.

James blinked in confusion at that as he told, "I don't remember that." True he'd only been over once, but it had been vivid enough the place had lingered and that object hadn't.

Again, Sirius only shrugged without a trace of care.

Lily's face squished up in disgust as she glared at the book, trying to resist the impulse to turn the same look on Sirius as it's not like he'd been the one to do this, but suddenly she realized that Sirius may have taken something from his parents though he'd never claim to. If this was how they treated their old servants, than she suddenly wasn't as surprised if Sirius learned to treat them that same way.

"Well you've got that one right Harry," Sirius huffed.

"I missed hearing about this," Remus managed to find a smile again at the mention of Harry's friends.

"About time," Sirius seemed to be refusing any good mood right now.

"Well at least she admits it," James actually did get in a grin for this.

"I've missed hearing about Hermione like this," Lily grinned again for that little first year who'd babbled herself silly about books on their first train ride.

"And just where has she been?" James demanded with an eyeroll.

Sirius though narrowed his eyes as he insisted, "no, that's a good question, did someone there really lock up your owl and not let her back? Why! It wouldn't be that big of a difference just to allow Hedwig to come back so at least Harry-"

"Sirius," Lily cut in.

"What?" He barked back.

She met his scowl with a sad little frown before telling him, "it was wrong of them to keep Hedwig away, but I don't know what you're yelling at us for." She thought she did though, when she noticed his eyes tighten at the 'them.' He was clearly wanting to strangle someone for whoever kept messing with his godson, even himself as he clearly wasn't doing any good.

"Ouch," Lily winced in sympathy. She hadn't actually expected Hedwig to follow through on Harry's threat, but at least was relieved to see Harry looking just as repentant.

"She was almost right," Harry sighed, knowing if those dementors hadn't attacked he still wouldn't have lasted there much longer.

"So I'm guessing this won't be your next Patronus memory about them," Remus muttered uneasily as Lily flipped the page.

"Well I get that you're pissed at them," James cocked his head to the side, "but that was just a little cold. They explained themselves in the only way they could."

"Yeah," Harry grumbled, "that didn't make me feel better."

There were all starting to watch him in a way they hadn't before, but they'd never seen this bubbling anger before either. They'd only gotten a hint of it when he was arguing with Dudley, now they were all getting a bad feeling it might make a reappearance, maybe worse if that look on Harry's face was any indication.

"And everyone always does what Dumbledore thinks is best," Remus murmured as he watched Sirius already growing as angry as Harry, though still at himself for not having disobeying Dumbledore already and thinking his pup deserved far more than the Headmaster seemed to think.

"Harry!" Lily snapped at once.

Harry felt like he'd just been snapped between two worlds, the anger he remembered feeling so vividly at his friends suddenly drowned out by the sound of Lily's voice and now replaced with plenty of real shame for that nasty little comment.

"I really am sorry," he whispered, but it seemed more to himself than her as an aching stronger than ever reared up in him and he wished he had his friends here with him now instead of having no clue where, or even when, they were.

"They knew I was being followed!" Harry suddenly barked, then he groaned in misery as his emotions were leaving him feeling torn in half. At fifteen and angrier than he ever had been in his life at them, and now with a longing so deep it hurt more than he ever would have believed.

"Harry," Sirius sighed at his side. He forced himself to concentrate on his godson rather than his own equally foul mood and instructed, "take a deep breath pup, and just remember it all does work out for you. You'll get your grievances with Ron and Hermione out and then everything will be fine."

Harry struggled for a moment to get his lungs working normally again, but the confident tone to Sirius' voice truly did ease him back and he forced himself to concentrate on one mindset only, this time here and now, and push down the anger for his now absent friends. Then he gave Sirius a winning smile for the reminder.

Sirius returned the grin at once and waited until Harry looked away to throw a guilty look at James, knowing the father would have much prefered to have been able to do this, but then James surprised him by smiling right back with only the smallest bit of tightening around his eyes for having to watch. James had forced himself to come to terms at watching this for some time, and it honestly warmed him seeing Sirius was good at it.

Harry blinked in confusion as he remembered back to how Dumbledore had looked at the end of last year, both at the realization of what had been done to his friend and when he'd defended Harry from Fudge. At the time he'd been warmed beyond belief to see his headmaster come to his defense, now it wasn't computing with the same cold man who'd abandoned Harry all summer. What had he done so wrong to change his headmaster's opinion of him?

The others didn't notice Harry's burning silent questions, they were too busy shivering as they easily pictured their anger quantified to Dumbledore's levels over that instance.

"He, he wouldn't really," Remus tried to protest, as Dumbledore must know how miserable Harry was at that place, surely Sirius would have been vocally against that enough...but there just wasn't anything in him to say any of that was true. He could easily picture Dumbledore doing this if he thought that was what was safest, and if he was using that argument to keep Sirius quiet, well that could actually have worked.

"That's not what happened though," Lily tried to pacify for everyone around her, even herself, all going grim at the statement.

"Only because I did what I wasn't supposed to," Harry raised a brow at her, "that hardly makes it any better."

Lily made a disgruntled face at him for the tone but couldn't argue that point.

"Was that an attempt to change the subject?" James cocked his head to the side as he gazed at the book. "Hermione truly needs to read a book on how to do that."

Sirius made a noise of disgust, so quickly trying to find any excuse to put off what Harry could just feel pounding through him Harry asked, "what's that?"

"His name's Phineas Nigellus," Sirius rolled his eyes, "you might have spotted him in Dumbledore's office at some point, cause he was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts. There's also a portrait up of him in that house in one of the guest rooms."

Topic of the inside of that house hadn't seemed to make Sirius feel a lick better so Harry let it go, but he still wondered why he felt something significant about a painting of all things.

"Wouldn't make anyone feel better to feel looks behind your back," Lily sighed even as she was gazing wearily at the next page where she saw a lot of capitalized letters. She forced her eyes not to skip ahead and tried to pretend like she didn't know where this was going.

"A very real threat," Remus tried to say in hopes to keep the logic up front for them all, but clearly no one agreed as it shouldn't have even been needed.

Sirius wanted to snark that had been his point all along, or even messages shouldn't have been needed and Harry should have properly been with him, but further grumbling of that just wasn't going to do anyone any good.

"Now you know that's not it," Lily said at once.

"Sure felt like it," he grumbled back.

"I still don't see what that has to do with anything," James sighed. "He won't be sending you out on any missions that you're thinking of while you're still in school."

Harry sighed with frustration as his school was mentioned again, so many feelings for that place all jumbled into one a migraine was already threatening to break again.

Ironically they might have agreed, fifteen was too young to be dealing with anything involving Voldemort. They hadn't really even known there was anything to do against him until they'd left school, and hadn't started questioning it until their sixth year. Problem was, Harry would be involved, and so would his friends by default. It was just sad all around to realize both how young they were, and how it couldn't be avoided.

Lily sighed as she looked at what Harry was fixing to belt out, but she just couldn't bring herself to shout that all out. She couldn't even bring herself to raise her voice that much, she knew the others already grasped what level Harry was at by the boys sheepish look at all the feelings pouring out of him at once on his friends.

"Harry," Lily groaned as she rubbed at her temple, letting the book dip slightly so she could eye him better.

"I know," Harry mumbled without being able to meet her eyes. First his dad, now his mum, he just kept disappointing everyone lately.

She kept staring at him though until he looked up and met her eyes while she told, "it's not as if I can blame you for your temper snapping, no one can control that, I just wish you weren't taking it out on the ones who don't deserve it."

Harry gave her a bleak smile as he still forced himself to concentrate on his every breath, on Sirius at his side shaking his head at Harry's display even while he wanted to do a bit of shouting of his own, to absolutely not think about how angry he'd been at the time so he wouldn't get lost in his mind again.

"You have a knack for scaring your owl away, don't you?" James muttered like he hoped that would stop Lily from continuing for a moment, and it didn't.

Lily's voice hitched as she once again was forced to remember all that Harry had been through, all on his own, always with no one there to help him. It really was no wonder he lashed out because of the summer he'd had to suffer after all that.

Harry kept sinking farther and farther into his cushion as shame managed to burn out any ill will he'd once held towards his friends, for now at least keeping his mind level in the here and now. His mum was right, this really had come out on the wrong people, he couldn't believe he'd done this to his friends.

"Brave little one," Lily murmured, it took a lot for someone to interrupt someone else's shouting.

"I think I'd fear for my life to hear of her in a furious state," Lily sighed in relief before telling them, "least you seem to be done shouting for now."

Harry hardly looked over at her as he kept flattening his hair and trying to vanish from sight, or more preferably go hunt down his friends and properly apologize to them.

"A torture chamber," Sirius grumbled, which seemed to be true even for Harry. He hadn't been inside there five minutes when he was already showing his worst. Sirius had often wondered if that place was enchanted to bring out the worst of people, and this wasn't disproving his theory.

"Well you've hardly given them the chance to do that," Lily couldn't completely stop her rebuke. "You did just walk in there and start this up."

"You really can't start so open ended Harry," James at least tried for a smile while he corrected Harry in a less harsh tone than Lily had managed. "Even I'm not sure what you're asking for and I'm following your head."

"Thought it was obvious," he rolled his eyes at James, honestly wanting to make the father laugh for a moment as just days ago Harry had seemed too afraid to speak to him, now he was literally mouthing off. It was quite a turn to see such a change coming through him so quickly, though it just made him all the more sad this was the closest he'd ever seem to get to watching his son grow up, years taking place over days.

"You weren't really going to start shouting at them for that?" Lily couldn't stop a frown at him now. "It's not their fault they aren't allowed in."

"They certainly made their letters feel a lot more obnoxious then for 'we don't know.'" Harry grumbled back, still not entirely able to replace the bad mood this book was reminding him of it seemed.

At the word invented, everyone finally felt their spirits lifting again. The twins had always been a foolproof way to make them feel better, and their adventures in inventing was the most entertaining thing going on in the background of Harry's life.

"Really?" Lily demanded, finally turning her sharp eyes off of Harry and onto the book in disapproval. "She's still doing that to them? Mother yes, but I can't really say she has a right to be trashing their things like that."

"I can't believe she's still trying to," James sighed. "At some point it really does boggle the mind how she's still fighting them on something they so clearly want to do, I'd like to think she'd start encouraging them when she realized how badly they want this."

Harry had to resist the temptation to tell them both to knock off Mrs. Weasley, instead he put as much conviction into his voice as he could, "I'm convinced she'll ease up on them in no time." He truly felt it in him the mother would be proud of her boys, but he was weary of saying that in case it caused another spur of pain. He'd managed to keep anyone else from continuing on this for now though.

"I guess I should be flattered I get discussed at these meetings," Harry scowled, even as deep down he could feel something about that was off...

Sirius couldn't help a mean little laugh Ron really hadn't put that together? What exactly had he really been thinking about all summer for not having realized that? Had he and Hermione been that cozy?

Harry gave him a hard nudge to get him to stop, he already felt bad enough for how he'd reacted to seeing his friends, he didn't want to hear the others picking on them now.

Lily was still frowning at him, wishing he'd drop the tone already.

Sirius snorted in surprise before starting to giggle like a maniac as he imagined the look on his mother's face if she heard that. It seemed Kreacher had passed away, a blessing he was more than happy to hear as well.

Lily hadn't meant to shout that so loud, but she'd yelped it more in surprise than anything causing the others to jump as well.

Harry just couldn't shut off his spikes of annoyance lately as he grumbled, "is it just me, or is the system really unfair towards Muggleborns? Just because you've got magical parents they can't tell you're doing magic during your summer holidays, but when I do it," he finished with an obvious enough look.

"To be fair," Lily tried, "it is unintentionally biased. There's just no way possible to detect a single person's magical energy, though studies have tried. The trace is only set to detect that of magic for underage people, not even individuals. So instead they have to do it by location, and just trust that parents aren't allowing their kids to do so during holidays."

Something of what his mother said tickled in Harry's mind, and suddenly he snapped his fingers and said, "that's it, that's why Tonks and Moody could use magic at my place. Lupin was talking about that to Kingsley when I was coming back into the kitchen, but it didn't make any sense at the time. He said something about how because Mr. Weasley had been using magic before at my place it was going to be overlooked. I didn't know what he meant because Mr. Weasley wasn't even there."

Remus blanched and avoided all eyes for a moment to pretend he hadn't just heard Harry automatically slip back into calling him by his last name again, now right in this room.

"That, kind of makes sense," James frowned in thought, "he was there to pick you up last time, and so long as he forewarned the Ministry again he was going to pick you up, they'd just ignore magical energy at your house for that time period because they'd just assume it was Arthur doing it."

"I wonder why Arthur wasn't there?" Sirius frowned, "he couldn't have been at work, otherwise that wouldn't have worked."

Harry just shrugged for answer, though something of what Ron said tried to bubble to the surface. Guard duty? Had Harry been watched even more closely after the dementor attack? No, that didn't make sense, there wouldn't be a guard on the house while he was being picked up, so what-

"Well I'm just happy you won't be in even more trouble for that," Lily sighed in relief as she went back to the book.

"I'm sure it was hard to miss," Sirius grinned.

Harry gave a sheepish smile while everyone around him laughed, though it did make Sirius wonder if the Order had heard this and no one had come up to check? They might have blocked out the noise outside of the room though in an effort to keep the kids out.

"You've been saying everything grumpily lately," James told him pleasantly.

"Can't seem to shake it off when I keep getting annoyed," he snipped.

"I would just like to take this moment to remind that they were complaining of Percy doing this last summer," Sirius grinned.

"I'm positive the twins have flamboyant answers for that," Remus snorted.

James suddenly blinked as he eyed his two friends, before cracking up laughing.

"You going to share the joke?" Sirius demanded when he'd subsided enough but the baby was still giggling in his arms.

"I'm honestly just picturing their reactions when they realize who they're in the same house with," James stated with a stupid smirk in place.

It only took them a minute before they exchanged impish grins with each other, but Harry shot down the idea at once as he said, "well I never told them that I knew who the Marauders were, so unless Ron did, I don't think they even know."

Sirius was suddenly pouting at him as he demanded to know why.

Harry answered simply, "when would it have come up?" The only scenario he could see was if Sirius or Remus had referred to the other as their nicknames, and while they swapped between the two often enough in here, Harry hadn't once heard Sirius or Professor Lupin do the same in his time.

Sirius and Remus were starting to look disappointed now, after the twins had gone on about them when the Map had first been introduced they'd love to think they got a chance with a real chat to their follow up pranksters.

Harry grimaced as he realized he was just killing everyone's mood of late, and insisted to his brain to cut it out already at least in here. What was it about this year that was putting him in such a foul mood no matter what?

"Harry, how dare you!" James mock outraged as he wagged his finger at him.

Harry forced a smile he didn't really feel at the picking, now struggling with himself to understand why he couldn't just laugh along like he had in the past. This couldn't all be because of his rotten summer and lingering shame for what he'd done to his friends. What on earth was happening to him this year to cause such a resurgence of these bad feelings he was having so many problems shaking?

Sirius sighed in disappointment Fred had skipped a perfectly good opportunity to use his name. Harry clearly needed the laugh he was sure it would have given.

Harry suddenly smiled for what felt like the first time in hours as he chuckled at his own description for seemingly no reason, and the others didn't even care enough to question it, they were just happy to see him fighting to get past whatever mood he was in.

"Apparently everyone could." At least this time his voice had come out more self deprecating than angry. Then his face managed to brighten even more as he said, "I think that's the first time she's outright said hello to me like that."

"Only took her three years to do so," Sirius grinned, "maybe by next summer she'll carry on a conversation."

"Darn mothers who think ahead," Remus pouted.

"Tonks keeps getting better and better though," Sirius smirked at the idea of that little kid growing up to teach kids such valuable things.

"Snape?" They all chorused in disgust. Lily broke free of that first though as she thought back to wondering just what Snape did for the Order, and Dumbledore's rather interesting instructions to him at the end of last year. She remembered distinctly Dumbledore's words in saying Snape had turned spy for them and that's what had kept him out of Azkaban, and while the boys had initially dissed the idea as they refused to trust anything by him, Lily could almost feel hopeful for it even if it didn't make sense. What reason did he have to do this that hadn't been there when he joined in the first place?

"Doesn't make him not a git," James scowled.

"Here I was wishing Ron would appear here," Sirius smirked, "now I don't have to miss him."

James just chuckled as he agreed, but also said, "honestly though, any sane person but Hermione would say the same."

"I wonder which brother Ginny looks up to the most," Remus snorted.

"Whatever works love," Lily sighed, still wishing he'd apologize rather than just deciding to blow the matter over.

"Oh?" They all muttered with intrigue, having thought nothing of the casual flirt mentioned in Harry's last year.

"Well congratulations to the two, I hope they enjoy those lessons," Lily smirked while the boys outright began giggling as well at the news, or at least the way the twins had delivered it.

"I don't see why Bill couldn't have done that?" Remus said innocently enough, "I don't see how he needed to come back for just a little desk job."

"I'll explain it to you later Moony," Sirius smirked as he patted his friend's shoulder.

"Oh yeah," the three Marauders muttered, seeming to forget about him more often than not.

Harry though tensed all over again, a sudden blackening trying to shroud all memories he had of Percy.

"Well I'm happy you brought him up," Lily smiled, "I was curious if he got to keep his job in the department, I'd be really happy for him if he got something so young."

Harry just gave her a sad little frown as he resisted the impulse to start bracing himself for some very bad news.

"Uhoh," James frowned in confusion as he tried to lean around Lily and see what that reaction was. He was no fan of Percy's but that hadn't been a pleasant start.

"What did he do?" Remus struggled to get out in a non accusing voice, but it was hard to imagine him doing something to cause that reaction in his parents that wasn't terrible.

"Look Sirius, she is technically having a conversation with me," Harry muttered just to try and keep that bad feeling from washing over him any second.

"One on one then," Sirius corrected, his eyes still trained menacingly on the book and not to be distracted, even by this.

Lily's eyes flipped wide in shock, she couldn't imagine having such a terrible fight with her child it caused that kind of reaction.

"Wouldn't that be a good thing though?" Sirius' tone was still more icy than confusion, he'd never liked hearing about Percy and he wasn't at all liking how this was starting considering the last thing he'd heard about the Ministry hadn't been a good thing.

"No one noticed, I'd hardly think Percy had been blamed for that," Remus huffed.

"I guess I can kind of see that," James sighed, though he still didn't see how this had to do with having such a terrible fight with his parents.

Harry winced with renewed chagrin at what he'd done to his friends, now realizing how his friends had felt all the more because of how his dad had shouted at him this morning.

"Oh bollocks," Sirius groaned as he ran a hand miserably down his face. "Fudge didn't really try to do this did he?"

"Percy didn't really fall for this," Remus countered with a calculating look. "It's been made obvious Harry favors the Weasley's, and if Fudge really hates Harry now, then doing something like this for a Weasley doesn't make any sense."

Lily was fidgeting uneasily with the pages before she pressed herself to go on, now sincerely hoping this fight hadn't really been about what she was thinking.

"Really?" James demanded. "That, that's just so-" he cut himself off as he seemed to run out of words for how idiotic that felt. What was Fudge's game here?

"Well yes, if he'd earned it," Lily sighed.

"I don't get it," Harry frowned at them. "Yeah it's weird, but what's so bad?"

"If Fudge's attitude is anything like we last saw," Lily patiently explained, "than Percy getting something at a time like this should raise a red flag for him and his family that the Minister's up to something, putting someone so close to Harry Potter in his office."

"What?" Harry wanted to laugh, though his sinking gut was confirming she was right on point. "You think Fudge wants Percy to spy on me and report my favorite dessert?"

"Not in so light of questions though," Remus agreed grimly while Harry looked back to the book with worry.

"Oh, and now Dumbledore's involved to," James groaned, this going from bad to worse.

"I can not believe any sane person would think like that," Sirius sneered.

"I don't understand why they wouldn't believe this," Harry ground out, trying his best not to shout another grievance that had been plaguing him that summer. "Ron said they were all ready to believe it when the Philosopher's Stone was nearly taken from Gringotts."

Lily looked at him sadly as she explained, "The concept is a bit skewed. There's a difference between people speculating and fearing, and outright saying it. I'm sure that if Dumbledore had declared that yes, Voldemort had been the one to do this, then people would have reacted the same then."

Harry still didn't think that made any sense, but stopped arguing the point.

"In league with him?" Lily demanded. "He's not the one trying to destabilize life!"

"Which really shows more about Fudge than anything," James snapped in outrage, he found Arthur's fascination perfectly understandable and honestly compelling when Lily and Sirius treated him to Muggle education. It really showed how a person thought though when they'd hear the same things and look down on the whole civilization for not being as good as theirs.

"But, Percy should know that?" Sirius forced himself to phrase it as a question. "He's smart enough to know when he's being played."

"The twins would have done it to him enough," James agreed.

Lily was just blinking slowly down at the pages now, she didn't even want to continue to what she now truly knew the fight had been about, she didn't want to hear about Percy fighting with his parents about this because she knew without a doubt Percy was wrong. The saddest part was though, some part of her still pitied the poor boy. She'd long since noticed he'd always felt ostracized from his family, and earning a promotion like this and going off his past experiences should have taught him his parents would praise him for this like always. Then they went and dismissed him, and Percy would feel shunned. It didn't excuse such a fight it left his parents in the mess they were at all though.

"That sounds like completely the opposite though!" Sirius snapped. "Every time we've heard of Arthur he's out there helping someone out and on first name terms with a lot more people than Percy who his own boss didn't even know his name!" Sirius was breathing rather hard at the end, but he couldn't help it. Percy wasn't his family, but he could still feel the reminding sting of betrayal that rat had caused him as he heard of this. It was a different kind of betrayal, but choosing that Ministry over his family could not be worked out in his mind!

Harry was having trouble picturing Percy shouting such a thing when he could far more easily recall Percy splashing into the water just last year in concern for his brothers welfare. What had changed in that time to make Percy like this?

Harry wasn't the only one scowling by the end of all that, no one could believe what they were watching Lily spit out in frustration. Of all the times they'd been agitated of hearing about Percy, they still would never have called this!

"It's a good thing they don't know your real last name then," Remus sneered in disgust.

"I still can't picture it," James whispered. He'd never imagined that Voldemort's return could manage to pull yet more families apart like it had his own. His eyes flickered to Remus briefly, unable to think yet again what it had implied they'd all be thinking about him in the coming year, and forced himself to listen to Lily go on.

Lily couldn't stop a little hitch in her throat, even with Ron describing it she couldn't force the image into her head of any child turning on their mother like that. Molly did not deserve that for anything, especially as she was most likely only there to let him know she still loved him despite this decision.

"You would think," Sirius agreed nastily, "but I've never met someone so ignorantly stupid they wouldn't understand the word's Voldemort's back either."

Harry watched those around him yelp furiously on his behalf again, making him smile just slightly at the defense.

Before Sirius could even open his mouth to make his recurring joke, James suddenly half screamed, "how much was Percy told!?"

The baby in his lap let out a wail of protest at something so loud, but even while James began soothing him he had worried eyes on his best friend.

It only took but a moment for the others to realize what that implied, and Sirius lost a shade of color before he got out, "I'm sure if Percy knew anything new about me he'd have gone badgering that right to his new master."

Harry was saddened to see them all so easily flip on Percy, Sirius instantly resorting to those kinds of insults, and then confused at his own confusion as Harry was very sure Percy deserved it for the rest of his life. He was still trying to recall the time Percy had weaved himself through an angry crowd to fight back against those Death Eaters last year as the same guy who'd done this to his family. Something in him was trying to insist Percy must regret this...

"No, most likely it would have been an introduction type thing like what happened with Molly, so if I hadn't been around to their place yet, I'm sure he knows nothing about me."

It was comforting at least for the moment that Percy hadn't gone so far into the Order he would likely know more current whereabouts on Sirius at least. Did he know anything about the Order? Ron had said this had happened right before they'd been going to Grimmauld place, so surely Percy knew his family was fixing to relocate out of the Burrow and where they were headed? Maybe it had been like Harry though, and they'd only been told of the location right before they'd entered, so Percy had no clue of anything.

Lily had to go back and reread what Hermione had actually said to set her husband into a panic, and then they were all just as baffled at Harry by the comment enough no one interrupted her in hopes Hermione would just explain.

"Why would he?" Remus began with his eyes narrowed.

"Mention him how?" The others could already hear a growl beginning in Sirius' throat.

"A standing joke about what?" Lily began nastily, but forced herself to continue as she didn't even want to imagine what all was being said about her baby, what was being said would be bad enough.

"Oh no," James began furiously ruffling up his hair at once. "Please don't tell me-"

Lily cut him off as her voice continued rising in sharpness.

"I want to know if she's mentioned that to the twins, earn her a lot of respect in their book," Remus muttered bleakly, looking for anything good for just a moment.

"Could hardly forget," Harry muttered as those articles still stung him now thinking about.

Harry felt some distant part of him want to laugh for his friend which was not coming to him now at all of the grim, wide eyed faces.

Harry really had been trying to keep himself under control, so it surprised him when his Mum didn't and she exploded a mountain of diatribe on that Prophet and what they were doing to her Hare Bare. The boys watched her vent like they just had about Percy, agreeing with every word she said so much they were just a bit disappointed when Harry gently cleared his throat and tried to cut her off.

"Really Mum, it ticked me off too, but-"

"It's disgusting," she insisted like she thought Harry was trying to argue that point. "The Ministry I work for would never force the Prophet into pulling these stunts, but clearly the editor's right in Fudge's back pocket and I can't believe anyone would do this to you!" She wanted to keep pressing her point right up into Fudge's face, but as Harry continued to look sadly at her she instead turned burning eyes back on the pages.

"Has he completely lost whatever a mind he had!" James gaped. "He's only famous because of what Voldemort did to him," clearly the act of saying his own murder still couldn't really get through his mouth, "what possible reason could Fudge think Harry would make that up for!?"

"If I find out, I'll be sure to let you know," Harry sighed, now feeling even more guilty for his earlier anger as he kept trying to curb theirs without success.

Lily too couldn't manage to quite get that out in her tempered voice, but it hardly cooled her either as she kept going venomously.

Remus' brows shot up in surprise at this turn of circumstances.

"But he's not going to be expelled," Sirius snarled at once. "So apparently they're just going to sit on that story forever, poor them."

Harry managed a smile for his godfather's utter confidence in that, managing to increase his own in that outcome and increasingly improving his mood about that at least.

"If they abide by their own laws half the things I've heard them doing lately wouldn't be done," Lily snapped.

"Because Molly wouldn't be at all suspicious why the twins would choose to vanish as someone approached," James sighed as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose, wishing he could put more energy into the comment but already feeling strained from so many stressful chapters in a row now. How was this one already worse than the last?

Harry still huffed with one last tick of annoyance he'd been left out of that.

"I'm so proud," Sirius blinked more in confusion than actual pride though. "She's come so far already."

"Ginny's getting more interesting as time goes by as well," James agreed at once, hoping to stay on a pleasant topic for just five minutes now felt like a miracle.

"No!"

The sudden outburst from Sirius had Harry and Remus nearly leaping from their seats in shock, which he clearly took no notice of as he kept going hatefully.

"Of all the rotten luck! My parents kicked the bucket but that nasty little blighter couldn't have gone with them! Just what did I do to deserve having that thing in my sole care!"

"I'd think you'd find it a good thing," James tried to offer up some happy suggestion for this. "Now you can clothe him and just have him out of your life for good." The odd part was though, if Sirius was going to do that he'd have done it already.

Sirius didn't offer up any more suggestions though as he huffed and grumbled a bit more under his breath while Lily tried to ignore the outburst she found uncalled for.

"Still haven't explained why they have to do that," Remus grumbled as he massaged his ear and glared at Sirius, at least he understood his friends consternation a little better, but now his ear felt like it was starting to ring from all the shouting going on so recently.

Harry's mouth went dry as he ducked his head all over again for causing his friends to ever look at him like that, now wishing he could give himself a good kick in the rear.

"At least you clearly regret it," James tried to pacify him, Harry had suffered enough guilt it was time he be comforted at least a bit. "I've only ever had one really bad row with Sirius, and we didn't exactly hug it out when all was said and done. You apologize to them, I'm sure they won't think on it any more."

Harry looked up towards the book hopefully.

"Well that could have gone better," Remus chuckled.

"But at least you seem on equal ground again," Sirius sighed as he tried to get that old problem out of his head.

"Not a good thing to be lingering on for now then," Lily muttered as she knew that if Harry's temper did break again, it really should be on him.

"Well that's not helping," Sirius grumbled, wondering what he'd done to have so much of his family being pushed back into his mind all of a sudden.

"At least Walburga taught him something then," Sirius' teeth flashed with that grin in an almost predatory way, "I'm sure I can help with that."

"Sirius, you're disgusting me," Lily snapped at him before reading loudly in hopes he was kidding.

"I think I'd be worried for her if she had though," Remus chuckled. "Little fighter that she is, I can't imagine she will until she gets what she wants."

"Least she could do is leave that elf out," Sirius huffed.

Harry suddenly felt an alarm bell going off in the back of his head, leaning just that little bit closer to Sirius and suddenly very worried for his godfather's behaviour towards his elf...

Finally they all felt themselves focusing on something they all wanted to hear about again, even the current Order members were insanely curious what was going on in this future.

James suddenly realized at the beginning that it had in fact ben Snape Molly must have been referring to as having arrived, and his agitation only increased as he realized Dumbledore really wasn't there to give some kind of explanation to Harry for leaving him like that for so long?

"We all are," Sirius begrudgingly agreed, his mind still trying to work out just what exactly that was and when it would start taking place. If he started seeing Snivellus at his meetings, Sirius wasn't going to be a happy camper with his Order much longer.

"Have I mentioned how brilliant those two are?" James eyes brightened with excitement as he fully appreciated this fascinating device. "As if I needed any more proof they're set for life with all we've heard so far, this is such a cool idea I'd buy a dozen!"

"As if there isn't enough filth in that house," Sirius sneered even as his mind tried to boggle Snivellus in his childhood home. Well the two did go hand in hand with how filthy they were.

"Is anyone going to explain that?" Lily grumped as it just kept being mentioned.

"So that quiet thing didn't seem to work out," Remus blinked in confusion.

"She really is a clumsy little one," James chuckled at the thought.

"Best use that troll's foot ever came to, getting knocked over by that girl," Sirius smirked.

Lily suddenly recoiled into the cushions in shock, and some honest fear as she glanced at her boy and back to the pages with concern. Before anyone could demand, she kept reading anyways.

"Oh she didn't," Sirius began, looking almost faint from the overwhelming disgust he could feel at such a thing existing.

Remus was almost concerned this didn't seem to be new to him, how many times had this happened? He had a horrible idea who this vile woman was actually a portrait of, as he kept watching Sirius' face as he seemed to be in a living nightmare.

"I think I found Sirius," James whispered to no one as Sirius' mouth was starting to drop open with horror.

Sirius began opening and closing his mouth wordlessly, apparently too appalled for words back, for now.

"Chapter's done," Lily sighed as she passed the book to James and took her baby back, all of them still braced for Sirius to crack and some kind of reaction to burst out.

HPHPHPHPHP

I did not mean to dramatically end with Sirius twice in a row, but I can't resist cutting these chapters off either because I'm a terrible person like that.

*I've had a few people ask me to explain why Lily and James weren't their own Secret Keeper, and I promise I'll bring that up in book seven when Bill mentions he's his own, but for now I couldn't think to make the same rules apply to an empty house that didn't belong to Dumbledore in any way.

  
  



	5. THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

  
  


It didn't entirely come to their expectations, as they'd been expecting a rant about his mother, but instead he snarled in frustration and got to his feet, pacing and muttering angrily, "woman just can't leave me in peace! Even in death she'll find a way to drive me mad, or more mad as I'm still convinced that's what I'd have to be to go back in there for some stupid meeting that  _ Snape's  _ a part of."

"I think we should leave and get some lunch," James sighed as he gazed down at the book. They'd only been at this for a few hours, but really, they'd just been dealing with so many things back to back already a break felt needed.

Sirius stomped wordlessly to the kitchen still muttering obsecnietes.

They ate their meal in some resemblance of peace but Sirius still refused to leave his plate, scraping it clean and then still scraping his fork against it. Remus hadn't actually meant to whisper, "Sirius, you didn't really mean that right? You know that place didn't-" he broke off as he couldn't think of how to phrase what Azkaban had done to him.

"I'm not acting right," he muttered to his plate alone. "I know I'm not, I don't need to see you two acting so off when I'm mentioned to notice it myself. Haven't gone after Harry, haven't done a damned thing really, now I'm actually back at that place, been there since Harry got there it seems, and I don't come up to see him until I hear that woman shouting." He sighed and shook his head, letting his hair fall into his face.

"You've clearly got a lot on your mind," James tried his very best to put something light into this. "A new feeling for you I'm sure."

Sirius did not rise to the bait, but he didn't seem to want to linger on this in front of them either as he pushed away from the table and wouldn't look at anyone as he went back to the room.

On the way there Lily managed to step in the shards of the vase James had broken earlier. She quickly banished the mess without remorse, that was just one step of ridding Petunia from her life.

James sat unhappily in his seat as he watched Lily sit back down beside him cuddling their child, his mind still on Sirius as he began flipping to his chapter and wishing he had more to comfort his best friend with, but so long as the topic was going to be over that house he didn't see how that was possible.

"Spiteful old hag," Sirius spat, "can't get away from that even in her death."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have given her the idea," James still tried to play this off as a joke, "she did give you absolute hell when you put all that stuff up in your room."

Sirius still refused to react past grumbling.

"I don't understand why you don't just put something in the way, put a door in front of curtains or something if keeping her face covered keeps her silent." Harry asked.

"I've got one better, just blow the whole wall up and be done with it," Remus added on.

"Oh how I wish I still had Moony's wisdom at a time like that," Sirius sighed theatrically before explaining to Harry what Remus knew full well, "the permanent sticking charm keeping her to that wall means that you'd have to rip down that whole house to get that thing gone, the charm is now in the very fabric of the building and no amount of blasting walls will get it off unless the whole frame goes with it, that's some powerful magic to get rid of anything, and not going to be used on something as precious as headquarters right now." His face puckered with disappointment as Lily explained the more reasonable half.

"As for putting something more solid to keep that woman blocked, I'm afraid that magic can't just have a wall put in front of it and there won't be consequences. So long as it's enchanted to react to noise and start screaming, if you try to cover that up, the person who did so will suffer terribly for it. It comes with its own countercurse that if you block it in any way from acting like it should, you're cursed. The curtains are enough that it can still activate, while ah, well at least you won't have to see the stupid thing."

Harry just sighed and grumbled about complex magic.

"Striving to torture me till the end of my days," Sirius huffed.

James felt his heart sink as he could feel the weight of that even if he hadn't seen his best friend in person.

Lily beat him to the punch by sympathizing, "I'm sure you're just exaggerating like always Sirius, just because he's got you doing things you don't want to be doing."

Sirius wasn't so sure, he still couldn't help a worm of agitation going through his brain of how he'd been acting. He'd been acting more normal last year with the Tournament going on, this just didn't feel right to him.

They all gave a hard twitch at that, though they hadn't really been pretending before, you couldn't deny anymore something bad was going on with their Padfoot.

Remus tried to force some hope into his voice, "I'm positive he's just in a mood because he's in that house for a while, once he and Harry step back out he'll lighten up at once."

Sirius took a deep breath and tried to take Moony's words to heart, but he also couldn't pretend Harry's frown deepened at the words.

Sirius still couldn't stop a nasty little shiver for the reminder of that place, where so many of his mother's precious 'lessons' about everything he hated had taken place.

"What a shame he didn't, I heard the scenery is lovely," James rolled his eyes.

Lily snorted softly as she could honestly imagine that.

"When she said she was clumsy, she really meant it," Remus chuckled softly.

"Did you really think she was kidding?" Harry laughed lightly back.

"Some people exaggerate it," Remus half heartedly persisted, trying to press into any mundane point with Sirius still looking so tight over continued mentionings of this place. "Just because you drop or break something once in awhile, I've been known to be clumsy as well. This however, is clinically clumsy."

Finally causing the others to start a light giggle as well.

"Just what are they looking into?" Lily asked of no one with exasperation.

"Couldn't tell you," James pouted.

Harry was sad to note he didn't even have a gut feeling about this, it was probably something of the Order he was never told.

"That woman's just no fun," Sirius sighed tragically, trying to force himself to remain off his own mother for a time and focus on this overbearing one.

"Or, you know, don't bother hiding stuff inside the Order and just let them know anyways," James grumbled.

"Where do they go?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Wherever Bill wants them to," Remus shrugged, "they've probably got some special place they keep all those documents that only Order membres can summon them from."

They all felt a sharp spike of agitation at the mention of him.

"I can not belive you of all people were sitting next to him," Jame balked, staring down at the page. Sirius looked just as confused at his setting mate, but then they were all surprised at Harry's sudden burst of laughter.

"What's so funny then?" Remus prompted as Harry rubbed gently at his temple, his eyes shining with mirth.

"Oh, I just remember all of a sudden Ron telling me about how Sirius reacted when Dung came over. It was just Sirius, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Bill there at the time when he showed up. Apparently he came stumbling into the house, saying 'Dementors attacked, Figgs going to kill me, where's Dumbledore?' Mr. Weasley apparently flipped out at once, ran down into the kitchen and sent an owl off to me, and disapparated before Dung had really gotten all the words out."

He paused there and turned those same amused eyes on Sirius and continued, "Want to know what you did? According to Ron and Hermione you made him repeat it, and then you started strangling him."

Sirius cocked his head to the side, then nodded like this made perfect sense to him. The others couldn't help but give grim smiles as well, it felt rather appropriate to the way they were feeling. Harry finished off by saying, "It took Bill pulling you off to get you to stop, but from then on Ron said that you tended to dog Dung wherever he went, and he'd flinch every time you like scratched your nose or something."

James was still chuckling mercilessly at the imagery as he went back to the pages.

"Bet you anything that wanker agreed with me just for some browny points," Sirius sniffed in disdain, hardly mollified to find out he'd attempted to strangle someone who had been supposed to be looking after his Godson.

"No thanks to you," Lily still couldn't help but snip.

"The least of which," James sniffed.

"I can't believe he had the nerve to do something that agitates her, right in front of her," Remus raised a brow as he still knew how ticked Lily was at him for the moment, surely Molly was just as bad if not worse as she probably approved of Harry being followed.

"Pleasant," Lily crinkled up her nose.

"I'd have rather been next to the stove," Harry muttered to himself, his rage had made him forget about his cold upon arrival, but he still hadn't fully regained feeling in all his fingers from that flight.

"I'm supposing Tonks has knocked over one to many stews," Remus smirked.

"I'm sensing that's the wrong place for her to be," James rolled his eyes, "more likely she should be set to some potatoes, least she can break those all she likes."

Sirius still felt a flaring agitation rising in him, still pestered over this reunion.

"Sirius dear, I need you to do me a favor and start strangling him again," Lily said almost pleasantly.

"I'm positive I'll be all too happy to," Sirius almost managed a cheerful look back at the thought.

"I've missed hearing about that cat," Remus gave a light snicker.

Then Sirius flinched again, harder, as he'd already had to realize how dumb that question was, yet he couldn't have bothered to find out any point before now? What exactly had he been so busy doing to not have done so?

"So glad you find that funny," Harry happily poked fun, while the others all listened curiously to see just what about that had made Sirius act even a smidge more normal at laughing at anything.

James could not read that without a nasty catch in his throat, hoping beyond everything his best friend was kidding about that part, as Sirius still flinched at the thought of what those fowl demons were going to be doing to his future. Sirius making light of this was entirely his Padfoot though, so he read on with more enthusiasm than he would have thought.

"Sirius," Lily began dangerously, clearly saying she'd switch that threat of violence to him in a heartbeat if she heard of anymore fool headed moves on his part.

"I, what?" Sirius demanded, feeling like his heart had just dropped down into his stomach. This couldn't really mean what he was thinking...

"But, all of that was true last year to, and you were getting around just fine!" Remus snapped, trying to pretend he hadn't watched James go the worst shade of red at having to be reminded who their friend was sharing all of their secrets with.

There was a deadly moment of silence where everyone just sat there for a moment and gaped at what Sirius had just implied he'd been up to. No, he hadn't really-

Sirius' temper snapped. The shouting they'd all been expecting before to come up when faced with his mother finally seemed to have tantamounted as past memories blocked out everything and he began shouting, "I can't decide who I hate worse right now, the rat for my name still being smeared, or Dumbledore! HE PUT ME IN WHERE!?"

His voice may have ruptured to stop him from continuing, that or he actually realized the baby was crying fiercely now, either way he forced himself to stop that and instead got to his feet and began stamping more than pacing across the room in frustration.

"Sirius-" Someone tried to say, but he didn't even take note of it as he kept going in a forced lesser volume, "it's damn near as bad as if I'd been locked into Azkaban all over again, there's no way I'm actually-" he cut himself off that time though, because in some nasty twisted way it did explain his behaviour so far. If Dumbledore had actually convinced him to stay in that house for his safety, than he would be in the worst mood of his life the whole time there, it's no wonder Harry's problems were falling to his wayside, he had trouble thinking of anything else now when he wasn't in that place, but trapped back in those dank walls and he'd be a bottomless pit of self pity.

"Listen Padfoot," James insisted over his still fussy child, who was now making more noise than Sirius, but Lily refused to leave the room this time as she kept soothing him patiently and keeping an eye on Sirius. "Dumbledore's insane for thinking that's what you should do, and Merlin it's a twist of irony you've actually seemed to listen to him in doing it, but I think you're forgetting something really important."

"What?" He barked like a snapping animal.

"It's not happening to you now. You never have to go back there again if you don't want to. Deep breaths Pads, I promise Dumbledore will rue the day he decided to do this to you."

"Rue?" Remus asked more to change the subject than anything. "Look at you using big kid words."

James theatrically pouted at him, while Sirius sighed but at least stopped shouting for now, and so had the baby. James still kept watching Sirius carefully, but when it became clear he was the holdup Sirius just waved him on, though now he looked more likely than Lily to be strangling a certain someone soon, and it wasn't Mundungus anymore.

"Mutual hatred of someone will do wonders to bring two people closer together," James gave an awkward smile in agreement, his thoughts on Snape and how for so many years four people had spent their lives hating his every step. Now one of them was on the same side as him.

"That is actual torture," Remus declared.

"I'll be lucky if I don't go mad and murder everyone in the room next time," Sirius agreed.

Harry wondered if Sirius had known at the time he sounded exactly like his father did upon reading that, then he felt his spirits sink that much lower as Harry kept realizing that with every minute he valued getting to watch James do anything, his Sirius probably missed his brother double.

"Ten years eh?" Sirius muttered absently, trying to draw the timeframe in his head, but since he honestly had no clue of who died first, his parents or Regulus, it still wasn't helping anything.

Harry felt a sudden flash of violence overtake him, some memory trying to bubble right to the surface of his strangling Mundungus-

"I can see what his attention was just so riveted on," Lily snarked.

"Trust Mundungus to try filching something from that house," Sirius said with an actual touch of indulgence though, he'd help loot the place for the man even while holding some burning violence for him.

"Why would he want it to?" Remus asked in honest confusion. "Wouldn't it be worth more with that crest in place, proving its pureblood usage."

"Depends on what Dung's using it for I guess," Sirius shrugged without care.

James could already feel a touch of indulgence replacing his lackluster mood at Sirius' future problems, the twins always had made him feel better though and this sounded like something right out of his late teen years.

Harry had to swallow very hard around the boy's sudden laughter, that felt like a bad omen to him.

James wasn't shouting that too loud considering his infant was still being rather fidgety in his mother's arms, but the tone was clear in his voice and they were all giggling now as none of them would deny they had been the same way after they'd turned seventeen.

"Good to know some things don't change," Sirius muttered as he brushed some hair back out of his face and grinned at Harry who'd quickly forced himself to ignore his moment and had indeed been laughing along.

"Parents always think you're supposed to be responsible no matter what age you're at," James sighed.

Lily winced as she heard that again, how she wished Molly would quit badgering those boys about being like their siblings, it couldn't be good for any of them to always be compared to each other, she still remembered how Ron had been on that first train ride and how badly it had shown him being looked over when it came to his fourth year.

"I'm sure that got her point across better," Remus snorted.

"But Percy apparently did, and no one was yelling at him for that," James huffed.

"I don't buy that for a second," Harry muttered to himself, thinking of how Bill's very look screamed he didn't like abiding by normal standards and enjoyed his reckless moments.

"Charlie clearly needs some fun tips then," Lily smiled to herself.

James voice broke with a sharp hiss of frustration even before he found out how the guys own parents reacted. He didn't care if he had no personal relation to Percy himself, he now couldn't help picturing that little shit of a Weasley in as fowl a way as possible.

Lily felt herself wobbling and tucking her child that much closer to her as it hurt to picture such a thing happening to those parents.

"I see why the Order's still keeping you around," Sirius nodded to himself, "least you can still manage to change the subject slick as butter."

Harry gave a sad sigh as he wondered if Percy would be proud of himself for creating such an awkward silence at just the mention of his name.

"Oh boy," they all muttered, as Sirius wasn't being at his most pleasant around them while in mention of that house, but around someone he'd shown not a spot of like for inside it, this could turn ugly fast.

"And she's telling you this, because?" Remus asked with honest amusement.

"Wants to know the best spell to set it on fire?" Sirius shrugged carelessly.

Harry suddenly blinked in utter fascination at the idea as he turned to Remus and asked, "you said a Boggart could read your mind and automatically turn into the thing you fear most, but could it do that if it dosen't realize Moody's looking at it? What do Boggarts look like when no one's around?"

"No one knows a Boggarts true form," Remus reminded, "not even Moody. Most likely it's just hiding as something already to fear you, and the person who did get closest to it could still manage to transform and scare them before they'd cast it off."

Harry was still trying to picture Moody being afraid of anything a Boggart could turn into as a laughable idea, but still the idea of that Boggart bothered him for some reason, like it did scare someone.

"I wouldn't let Sirius anywhere near anything in that place without taking his wand away, and that's too dangerous as well," James shook his head at Molly. "Just what makes her think it's a good idea to let Sirius help try and clean anything?"

Sirius just wasn't in the mood to respond back and keep playing this off like a joke, the thought of that room like every other dragging up some haunting memories he'd done a good job of burying over the years, this one in particular being the time his dad had given him a week long lecture on the dark creatures of the world and what Sirius was expected to do if he ever met them, not a pleasant reminder while sitting next to Moony.

"I can't imagine it was hardly disguised," Lily muttered, Sirius had never done a good job of hiding any feelings.

This was so randomly unexpected James had to stifle a giggle before going on, and then read slightly louder over the others still doing so.

"If she has never done that to his face, I will pay that woman my weight in gold this instant to do it now," Sirius managed to get out in between laughter.

"No, no, you're not thinking hard enough," Remus instructed with a smirk, "she's supposed to be doing it behind his back in the Order meetings while he's not looking."

James actually had to stop to catch his breath back from laughing so hard, while Lily rolled her eyes and was beginning to think Tonks really would fit into this bunch a little too well.

"This really is fascinating," Lily grinned the more she realized how flexible Tonks ability was outside of a text describing it.

"Urgh, as if the original version wasn't vile enough," James chuckled.

"Think I'd rather go back hearing about Tonks noses," Remus huffed quietly to himself, which Sirius still heard and rolled his eyes at, hoping Moony wasn't going to be like this every time he was mentioned, and completely ignoring the fact that he had been the same lately.

"That's what they're doing now," Lily agreed.

"Has that happened yet?" James asked in confusion, though after a while all of the deaths really started blurring together.

"I think Sturgis was actually doing some looking into that area," Remus nodded to himself, "he mentioned it last time, so maybe, or it's just fixing to."

"Must be a big name in the goblin community to still be remembered so vividly," Lily said sadly, as normally wizards were horrible about keeping track of other creatures history.

Remus muttered something under his breath about how that would tempt a lot more than goblins, but Sirius gave him a hard nudge to shut up that kind of talk.

"I'm sure no one got their gold back from Bagman," Lily scowled at the reminder of that, the twins in particular nearly having suffered a great fallback for it.

"Well at least this sounds far more entertaining," James grinned.

James nearly couldn't finish to the end he was laughing so hard, though he really was the only one. Lily still found him too annoying to laugh at such a stupid thing, and though Sirius normally would have he was on Lily's side for once.

Remus still looked distant and distracted like he hadn't even realized they'd switched to another topic.

"At least someone's enjoying themselves," Harry sighed.

"Can't fault his logic though," Sirius did nodd in agreement to that, causing Lily to glare at him as she wished he was kidding.

"Don't know what she's talking about," Remus snorted, "he's clearly looked them all up verbatim."

"So he can do them exactly wrong," James smirked.

"Just what have you been up to regarding them?" James suddenly demanded eagerly.

Since the first time that place had come up, Sirius truly looked interested in the story again and waved James on eagerly in hopes he would at least find that out.

"So what's she glaring at you for then?" Remus asked in honest disappointment if that had been what that look was for.

"I most likely indulged him a lot before he skipped out on Harry," Sirius offered, "and maybe she didn't approve of the way I handled him when he came to tell us."

"Can't imagine that's it," Lily scoffed, "since I can all to easily picture Molly wanting to throw a swing as well."

"I'm positive she's not the only one," Sirius sniffed, even if he was still on Harry's side he should have known about it, it didn't negate that Dung hadn't been doing his job.

Lily was frowning to herself for a different reason, thinking that it technically was Sirius' house and Molly shouldn't be shooting looks at him for having anyone stay over. She did wonder at Sirius' motives behind this, but she knew that he didn't know now.

"Probably back from when he was single digits though," Harry corrected with a slight snort.

They all burst out laughing at that one, though Harry blushed vividly as he was again reminded who he had demanded those answers from, very vocally.

"You sure do have the best timing Padfoot," Remus muttered.

Lily flushed in agitation at Molly saying that for her son. It should be Sirius' decision, and more than that, it should be hers to decide what Harry knew at what age. She wasn't the only one scowling hatefully for that comment, but somehow it hurt her the worst that she watched Harry flush with a new embarrassment as his eyes flickered from her and away again almost shamefully, like he'd just been wondering if his mum would say the same.

"Honestly Sirius, I think I'm impressed with your restraint," Lily seemed the only one who was surprised though.

James now looked offended for his mate as he said, "Sirius knows better than to get between a mum and her kids. Molly probably asked Sirius specifically not to say anything to them and he knows to respect that."

Lily looked chagrined enough Sirius didn't even bother to smirk at her, much.

"They've always seemed rather good at their impressions," Remus muttered randomly as he shifted uneasily in his seat, he could already feel a fight breaking out and he wasn't even in the room for it.

"Hey!" Sirius barked in outrage.

"He's the only one who should get to decide," James agreed dangerously. He'd spent hours now hating the world that left Sirius the one doing so, but he'd had to come to the acceptance of it all the same. Who was Molly to be saying anything otherwise?! Harry was just a friend of one of her kids!

"He's less of a right than Sirius!" Lily sneered back, looking quite dangerous herself Harry noted. "Who's Dumbledore to be telling Sirius anything to do with Harry? Merlin, we left Sirius as Harry's Godfather, and even if it's not recognized because of that stupid bloody thing everyone thinks he did, those who do know better should respect it!"

"Dumbledore needs to get a grip on what he thinks everyone needs to know," Remus snapped hatefully. First trying to keep Harry at such a terrible place he didn't want to be at, now trying to enforce Sirius do his dirty work as well, where did the man think he got the right to control them like this?

"I imagine this would be quite a show under most circumstances," James muttered as he was honestly having a bit of a hard time picturing it. Someone they'd never even really met arguing with his best friend about the circumstances of how much his infant son should know about the Order while he wasn't even in the picture.

Sirius came a second too close to snapping, 'thanks for the backup Moony,' but managed to stop himself just in time as it really wasn't fair to be turning his temper on him now when he had just snapped in agreement with him. At least his friend Remus was still acting the same as he should be, whereas they'd still yet to see their friend really taking on his normal roll of anything regarding Sirius or Harry in this twisted future.

"Don't you cut him off just because he's making a good point," James muttered petulantly.

Harry couldn't stop a soft little smile creeping across his face for that. He hadn't even spoken those words to Sirius, and yet his godfather really did seem to know him so well as he'd said the same thing Harry had been thinking for a month.

Sirius looked like he'd just been kicked in the sack. What exactly had he been saying for Molly to insinuate that? Had he really lost a chunk of his mind in Azkaban to really not be able to tell the difference between them sometimes? Sure they looked a lot the same, but he wouldn't really-

James face had been steadily growing more red the more he got out of Molly talking to his brother like that, but the moment he realized she'd just shot the lowest of blows at him he switched to several shades too pale for his normal coloring and stated in a flat, cold voice, "Molly just lost any of my respect."

"Dad!" Harry yelped defensively at once. He couldn't say he was pleased at Molly's coddling of him in this moment, but that was too far for him of someone he cared deeply for.

"I'm not going to let her get away with talking to him like that," James vowed without a change in expression. "Not after all he's been through, what he's still going through."

Harry glanced around beseechingly, but he didn't see anyone who didn't disagree with James. Harry winced as he did admit that Mrs. Weasley had crossed a line with that remark, but Harry still wished they'd cut her some slack as she was speaking out of anger and clearly trying to look out for him even if it was in the wrong way.

Sirius wished he had that same confidence in his future self. Despite how warmed he was James was using that icy tone, that no one in here had even thought to question the remark besides him, he honestly wondered if it was needed as Sirius wasn't as convinced that he wasn't just a bit loose around the edges, if maybe he did sometimes get the two swapped. He'd like to think he never got that bad, but well, twelve years was a long time, and he'd be wishing he had James back now more than ever in that hated place...

Remus suddenly realized they were the only ones enraged over this, and that in fact Sirius was trying to burrow himself into his seat and not looking at anyone, but instead seemed almost guilty of his future actions. James was too distracted by half reading, and half forcing himself not to shout as Remus leaned in to whisper, "Sirius mate, you know that's not happening to you, it never could."

Sirius only nodded as answer, and while he'd have liked more, Remus let it go for now.

Lily had said a lot about Sirius before, but never that, and she was right behind whatever nasty retorts James was interlacing as he forced himself to keep going.

"I'm going to kill Dumbledore doing that to you!" James finally broke and yelled that bit, regretting it instantly as it only started his son crying again. Giving the book a nasty toss aside, he took him from Lily and cradled him in his arms for a moment to calm himself as much as his baby it seemed. "Don't," he said without looking up when he'd seen Harry moving out of the corner of his eye. "I'll get it in a second, just let me," he took a deep breath as he kept his baby to him for an extra second, but now the child had calmed himself back down he didn't seem to want to move again as he nestled into the crook of James neck. Sighing with content, he managed to keep him there while summoning the book back to him, and managed to keep hold of both while forcing himself to keep going. At least now he couldn't lose his temper.

"I'm still struggling to understand where she feels she gets the right to say anything regarding Harry," Remus snarled under his breath as he massaged his temple.

"Remus, if you actually agree with her on this, I will hold you down myself and watch them take your head off," Lily promised.

Remus just nodded silently, knowing he wouldn't fight back. If he really had changed so much he'd side with her over Sirius, then there wasn't anything left of his Marauder heritage. It didn't even matter if he disagreed with Sirius, he should stand by him anyways to her face.

"There's my Moony still in there," James at least seemed to approve of this answer.

Sirius felt a burn vanishing all his ire at her. Suddenly another woman flashed across his mind, of Euphemia Potter saying the same thing about him so many years ago now. He'd realized the Weasley's had unofficially adopted Harry, he just hadn't realized how much it paralleled his own family with the Potters. He hadn't even really been the one so angry with her right now, to worried for his own state of mind and what he could have been seeing while Harry wasn't there, and now he was confident he really couldn't say a word against her. Not after he now saw those fierce hazel eyes claiming him as Molly had just done for Harry.

"The fact that she even needs to ask," Lily's harsh tone came out muffled through her gritted teeth. She'd hated that sting of replacement several times now, but none worse than this where Molly was actively trying to block Sirius from doing his job, what Lily honestly wouldn't even be doing in that moment was hurting so bad she never could have imagined this feeling.

James couldn't actually allow his temper to snap again with his little charge nodding off while still trying to hold onto conscious trying to catch at his father's flyaway hair, so it just wasn't as satisfying watching Lily and Remus look ready to deck her any second like he knew he wanted to. It was least helpful of all Harry, nor Sirius were on the same boat, both were watching the three of them almost pitifully, though neither risking saying anything to the contrary it was clear they didn't fully agree. James didn't understand how Sirius could be so on this woman's side right now, how he wasn't the angriest of them all, and he would demand answers from him once his kid fell asleep and they had a real excuse to pause, but for now he forced himself to read past that moment that shouldn't exist.

"Not one word Sirius, or I'll mute you," Remus promised, his eyes still flashing dangerously as Sirius looked to try cracking a dog joke at a time like this.

"Do you really think he'd say anything against Sirius' side?" James forced himself to ask slowly and calmly, better than starting to shoot curses at someone who wasn't here.

"No, but it was still a valid point," Remus huffed without looking at him, his eyes still focused dangerously on the book. Remus was really hoping that instead of telling Sirius to cool it, he wasn't instead ripping Molly a new one for bringing that up.

"Again, I am going to point out, where does she have the say to be telling Hermione anything," Lily hissed, far past caring she hadn't said much coherent besides that lately, this woman was pushing every last one of her buttons. "It should be up to her own parents to decide!"

Harry honestly felt like maybe Mrs. Weasley could claim there, as perhaps the Grangers had left Mrs. Weasley in charge of their daughter and what all she could know, but that was an honest guess as he had no clue of Hermione's parents relationship with anyone. He was honestly just trying to think of any defense for someone who'd touched him so deeply, but he still couldn't bring himself to undermine his own mother.

"Sadly, the parents original points against their own children still stand," Sirius said under his breath, clearly the only one going to do so, though he had no doubts all those being removed would pounce on Harry the moment he was alone.

"Poor Ginny really doesn't have any kind of excuse," Sirius muttered absently.

"I-he couldn't have said that when they'd be saying that all summer! Why does he cut in now to back them up?" Lily balked at the randomness of this.

"I suppose Mr. Weasley still wouldn't let them into the Order meetings, but now when I'm hopefully just going to get a few questions answered, he thought that was okay than whatever the twins were trying to ask," Harry offered.

"Can't baby them all forever," Lily snapped grimly.

"Now why did he ask you that?" James raised a still fuming brow. "Would have been much stronger if he'd thrown that out not as a question."

"Guess he thought I was still too pissed at him to hold his weight," Harry sighed as some pesky part of his mind snipped he just may not.

"Ouch, Harry sure knows how to get his revenge point across," Remus winced as he watched Harry flinch at such a thing being spoken, he was not proud of that thought.

"I can't see him doing it," James said without looking up, "angry he is, but he's never been petty."

James nodded without surprise while Lily gave her son a pleased smile and Harry basked just for a moment in his parents happiness at that.

Harry gave a light chuckle to himself at that little spitfire, he had no doubts Ginny may well be clever enough to be going through the twins stuff the moment her mother was back out of sight and try to sneak back down with an Extendable Ear.

"What he's usually best at," Sirius gave a halfhearted smile that didn't match the still sour tone of the room.

"I really do love how open ended you are with him," James forced a smile that felt like cracking plaster. At least he'd tried though, and it was as good as any attempt he could make at praising how Sirius was handling his son.

Lily hummed as a stirring of emotions still bothered her for that being true, Dumbledore better show his white beard around soon to explain that mess, but listened eagerly to this news that should have long since been given to her son.

"Well that's nice at least," Remus tried, unintentionally Harry was sure, for the same smile he'd offered him that same night.

"Well don't say it like it's such a bad thing Harry," James muttered.

"Well at least someone's having fun with this," Lily almost managed a smirk for Harry's now bewildered face.

"But I'm glad you did by the way," Sirius inserted as James small face twitch showed Sirius hadn't at the time.

"That really is some brilliant timing though," James really did smile this time. "If we'd been able to do that the first time around, I'm actually positive far more lives could be saved, a lot more could be done to cramp him up more often."

"It's not the one with the most pieces, but the one with the most knowledge," Remus agreed while both his friends rolled their eyes at him and his word wisdom talk again.

"I thought that you put that one together yourself," Lily reminded Harry of his last year and watching Dumbledore give Sirius those orders.

"I was still aiming for more specifics than my guessing," Harry defended.

"I do like how you sidestepped actually giving an answer to that," Sirius told him sarcastically.

"And Harry fell for it," James said tragically, he'd have never let Moony get away with that.

Remus tried his hardest to smother the flinch that gave him, he really hated his job for the Order and had no delusions he'd pick back up on it for Dumbledore's orders.

Harry watched those around him smile without humor at the idea, but then why did he get a nasty little pit swelling inside of him at the idea of that?

"Still can not wrap my head around anyone being that dense," James muttered in disgust as his sons snores began lightly filling his ears, at least encouraging him to keep a gentle volume even while referring back to something he hated.

"He's what now?" Lily demanded like she thought James was playing a joke.

"He's up to trying to save your useless arses," Remus still had his head cokced to the side as he tried to find any other way to interpret this news and coming up short.

There was a moment of silence where you could hear crickets chirping in the background after the stupidity of that statement. None of the others could even think to add anything onto it, and James had to remember how to get past such a new level of stupid to even keep going.

"But he doesn't," Remus said slowly and clearly, trying to form a proper sentence again. "If he did, he'd have done it ages ago."

"I think Fudge and Vernon could form their own group of idiots, but they're too dense to understand how to put together the meeting," Sirius muttered.

"I'd still take her over this dunderhead any day," Lily sniffed, "pull her out of retirement or something, please!"

"I would so love to pay someone to follow him around and try to at least get him to admit that though," James huffed.

"That doesn't even make sense, about anything!" Lily still insisted as if hoping repeating this enough would make anyone see sense.

"Fudge was there when you, when-" Lily had to swallow hard to phrase that without crying from remembrance of what her son had been through, "outside that maze. There just isn't a way possible he could explain that away!"

"Apparently deniability stretches so far it can block even the worst of memories, I almost envy him," Remus stated.

"Just because you're pretending it's not happening doesn't mean it's not," James felt a growl building in his throat as got that out, but the vibrating was already stirring his restless charge and he forced himself to tamper off.

Harry felt a shiver creep up his spine at that idea of so many left unprotected, all the damage Fudge was doing to countless people just because he was afraid. Harry had now seen fear do so many things to people, and yet he still couldn't imagine acting in those same ways.

"Really? That was actually more than I was expecting. You think if- ouch!" He yelped as Remus smacked him hard for making light of that.

"Oh but it would be so much more interesting if I did," Sirius persisted, trying to duck around Moony's swinging hand now, "what better impact than-ouch, Lily!"

Her eyes flashed, threatening to use worse than a stinging hex on him if he kept poking fun at this while his friends still adopted fear filled looks at any mention of this. Sirius honestly just did it as it made him feel better to pretend this was funny than be reminded who had put him in this situation, but held his tongue back nonetheless in hopes the subject would just be changed off of him.

"Remus," James began in agitation.

"What? I'm not wrong," he shot back at once with his arms crossed.

"We still hate the way you phrase that," Lily snipped at him, while he rolled his eyes at the lot of them. There really wasn't a nice way to say it, though they all tried to pretend otherwise.

Harry was just gazing sadly at Remus for a moment as an extra surge of hatred flashed for Snape, Skeeter, and everyone else who had been making Remus' name so public of late. It's no wonder if he'd been doing worse since he'd left Hogwarts, he clearly had a hard life without people automatically reacting to his name.

James had to cut off his snort of amusement with a small cough instead as he turned worried eyes on Sirius, though at least his best friend tried to play that off as a joke again. "Now I wonder how that meeting went? Would really hope I sat in on that one, though do you think it's too much to ask Kingsley to start spreading word of just how dumb it is to be looking for me at all?"

"Well my liking for Kingsley just went up tenfold," Remus muttered.

"Bleh, no way could I survive out there, I couldn't stand replacing my diet with yak milk."

"I am going to smack you," Lily promised him.

"Ah," they all muttered, at least Dumbledore was doing something besides annoying the piss out of all of them.

"Can they actually take that away once it's given to you?" Harry frowned at a rather mean blow in his opinion.

"Only if they can prove he didn't rightfully earn it in the first place," James shrugged without much care.

"That sounds like Dumbledore," Remus muttered almost wistfully, still half hoping to hear the return of the headmaster they knew and trusted rather than this control freak ruining both Harry and Sirius' life of late.

"I think you all need a few good laughs," James mumbled pitifully, wondering when his friends had fallen out of that business, knowing it had happened at the point he'd stopped being around turning them into these cold, barely recognizable people.

"I'm honestly not convinced that place could hold him," Lily said mostly to herself, "or more over, that they could get him there."

"Can't deny it would be a show to watch them try though," Remus sighed without any humor.

"Yeah, he only did that to Crouch, and that didn't seem to work out too well for him," Sirius finished himself with a roll of his eyes, then went cross eyed as he realized what he did.

James was just ignoring him at this point.

"Now you're asking the real questions," Lily said a bit eagerly, her boys reacting that way must mean Harry was starting to scratch at what supposedly was too much information.

"Damn that woman!" Sirius barked in frustration, causing all of them to jump, though thankfully the baby slept on. "If I want to tell Harry every little detail, would you just let me get on with it."

"You're just pissed because she cut in at the good part," Harry softly rebuked.

Sirius shrugged as he wasn't going to deny that while the others were just happy to see their normal Sirius again agreeing with them.

"Actually, I'm sure she can right to your own place," Lily muttered tersely, in no mood to defend her, especially to the twins, but that one had come out on impulse.

"Please, please just ignore her and keep right on going," Remus placed his hands together and actually pleaded, there was no way she could actually cut off there when that had been a real answer for once!

"Remus James Lupin, I am renouncing your middle name just for that," James huffed at him, though his eyes were too dark for the joke, it was clear he didn't actually find it funny Moony had switched sides.

"You know I hate it when you call me that you twit," Remus huffed, though there was no force to his return, he felt bad himself like he'd give himself a good smack as well.

"Exactly why he did it," Sirius pointed out as he slumped back into his seat with a pout.

Remus turned on him and was fixing to start a snip right back, but Lily cut them off by telling them to hush so that James could hopefully find out just a little bit more.

"Honestly I don't see why though," Remus butted in, whether to keep in his friends good graces or honestly meaning it they weren't sure. Honestly it was just a sight to watch him argue with himself for a moment no one was going to stop him. "I think some spies in school would be just as useful, could surprise the lot of them how much you learn in that castle."

"Well I won't say I'm not pleased they haven't stepped that far yet," Lily rolled her eyes, thinking telling Harry these things was one thing, but actually going full through with making him an official member and expecting him to do work for them while in school really was pushing it. There did still have to be some priorities.

James face puckered as he honestly struggled to imagine that. Not his Padfoot, who had to be almost physically restrained from backing down from any fight, who only did so while still grumbling that he hadn't gotten his last say in like he was still doing now for his and Remus' tiff. The dynamic between Remus and Sirius' friendship had clearly changed just as much as the two themselves, and James was sick of hearing about these strangers passing as his friends.

"Chapter's done," James announced as he gave the book another careless toss away, and got up to put his infant down for a proper nap.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

There's a lot of Molly lovers, and a lot of Molly haters, and most of them all center around this chapter. Really, like with Ron in the last book, there's no way to make everyone happy, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and what I ultimately had them all feeling for her. I won't deny this chapter truly did annoy me, as Sirius is given so much crap from Molly and Dumbledore telling him how to treat Harry when in every way possible it should be Sirius' decision. This will be the worst of what's said about her, I did promise and I will never break that promise that this'll never hit bashing territory for any character. Everyone gets a fair shake with me, as everyone does have their hi and low points.

* You know, I'm actually not sure what that is supposed to be. Probably is something random we're just never told about. I kicked around a few ideas, like the Ministry for one though I can't come up with a reason why they'd need building plans for that place since people from the Ministry work there, but I suppose it could be documents of the Department of Mysteries, but I honestly doubt those plans exist and no one of the Order's been inside there, so I'd love some suggestions of other places those plans could be.

**I'm aware that Sirius technically was 'the first of thirteen to rise and so the first to die,' in that moment, but honestly it'll never be brought up by my characters as they won't be digging past the moment to realize that. Just something fun I enjoyed seeing someone point out once.

  
  



	6. NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK

 

This chapter title always bugged me. We already had a chapter title referencing this house, was a second one really needed? I'm not saying it should have been called The Cleaning or something, but still. I do appreciate the irony that the chapter about the Nobel house is showing it's decay, so maybe the last one could have been The Reunion or something, I don't know, I'll shut up now. Happy Spring Break!

HPHPHPHP

James came back down the stairs to find they were already trying to wrangle together some kind of answer for this 'weapon' that was clearly the big deal with keeping Harry in the dark, but no one was getting very far. Remus and Sirius kept breaking off to take shots at each other, and Harry kept giggling at every crack they made making Lily smile indulgently and occasionally throw her own witty retort in before someone tried to push them back on track. James remembered his promise to try and dig some answers out of his brother for the way he'd been acting regarding Molly in the last chapter, but suddenly he just couldn't bring himself to do it right now. James just leaned against the banister for a moment and watched them all, his two friends who would soon be so unrecognizable to him, his wife and now grown son and the fate hanging over their heads. The goosebumps erupting over his flesh as the chills traced him gave him a nice kick to jump in and force past that moment he never wanted to live without them.

Lily had to dig the book out from under the recliner where it had fallen and give it a toss at Sirius' face to cut him off for the last time, "you've said that three times now, no Sirius it is not Voldemort's plan to string together troll hairs for anything, now would you read."

Sirius pouted up at her and honestly considerd sitting on the book just to force his point home, but honestly he really was just as curious to see the real answer so he flipped to the correct page while telling Lily how much potential she was wasting by cutting him off.

James didn't try to hide his pleased smile as he watched his brother treating Lily how he should have been treating Molly, at least he got to see the proper response once.

"That's ridiculous, she looks nothing like me," Sirius sniffed, enjoying for the moment being able to hold the book and make that joke so he could smirk at Harry's chuckle.

Lily still couldn't stop a nasty scowl in place as Molly kept trying to baby those teenagers.

"If Ginny has actually gone to sleep, than we have drastically misjudged her," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well both us, and the twins can't be wrong, that is impossible," James smirked.

"And the paranoia levels are still rising," Sirius rolled his eyes at this display. So what if a few owls started hunting in the area, no one who spotted and cared could still get in, or honestly would think much of it as owls had a large hunting range.

Sirius nodded to himself like that made absolutely perfect sense while Harry was still wondering if his friend and godfather were being a bit paranoid themselves now.

"I'd be worried for your mental health if you did," Remus agreed.

"That's true," James pouted at the two like it was really all their fault. "What's gotten into you two? You should have started with that weapon the moment Molly was out of sight."

"I honestly have no defense for myself," Sirius sighed while Remus agreed.

"Most people do for some reason," Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'm fairly confident the crack was louder than the yelp of pain," Harry smirked, finding it utterly amusing not one person was surprised to hear the twins making a reappearance like this.

"Actually, you referred to it as a weapon Harry," Lily corrected as she really thought it all through now. "Sirius just didn't correct you, which either means you guessed right-"

"or dead wrong," James finished for her as he really picked apart Sirius' word choice.

"All we really know is it's something he doesn't have this time," Remus huffed, "that doesn't really tell us anything."

"I love that he's naive enough to be asking that," James whispered mostly to himself while staring hard at his wife.

"I really don't even think it's that kind of weapon," Lily shook her head. "It must be something he needs to get more power, and something to kill just isn't that hard to come by."

"Maybe there's another Philosopher's Stone out there?" Remus offered.

"He'd have no more use for that," James waved him off. "He can get himself plenty rich, and clearly he's already reached some level or immortality from not having died when he should have."

"It must be something that doesn't even exist yet," Sirius sighed, "otherwise we should know about it now."

Harry was starting to get a horrible feeling every time this was mentioned now, beads of sweat spreading across his brow and leaning in very close to his godfather. Before anyone could say anymore, he practically pleaded, "does it make you all feel better if I say I'm convinced right now I find out what it is, and we can move on?"

They all watched him with deep worry for a moment, it wasn't at all comforting that this topic was causing him so much pain just to be poked at and they suddenly decided they may not want to know if it involved that look on Harry's face without the memory to reinforce it. So Sirius gave Harry a reassuring pat and decided to do just that.

Sirius' voice hitched as he was forcefully reminded his little pup had lived through that experience.

"Well I'd assume it was someone we trust, otherwise we wouldn't be worried about Voldemort getting it," Remus pointed out.

"Let's hope it's not being hidden at Hogwarts again," Lily huffed, clearly still bitter about that Stone.

"Hid is the wrong word, since apparently everyone in the world knew what and where it was seeing as Harry was implied to have supposed to figure that out on purpose," James rolled his eyes.

"Not necessarily," Sirius disagreed, still sometimes wishing Ron was here so that he could turn and say those kinds of things to him.

They all laughed happily for that comparison, Lily hardest of all.

"Oh I remember that spell being mentioned," Sirius' eyes brightened at once, "I've been meaning to ask for ages, did you two ever ask Hermione to teach you that one?"

Harry's laughter doubled as he agreed she had indeed, though the two had honestly thought the incantation was her idea of a joke, but it had worked when they'd tried it. Seems Ginny had taken to it even more than her brother. Harry wondered who the Marauder's first victim would be on this new to them spell.

"That woman," Lily rolled her eyes with an honest touch of fondness as all of the boys exchanged an indulgent smile at that nostalgia.

"Yes, I'm so sure Molly won't find that cracking noise suspicious," Remus snorted.

"And what if they were?" James snapped at once. "What's she going to do then, come in and give them a spanking for staying up talking."

Harry wished he was playing off a joke, but the dangerous tone he still carried meant he wasn't cutting any slack for her, especially in regards to him.

"Says the boys, doing exactly what they're not supposed to be doing," Sirius muttered for Harry alone, who was at least pleased to see a small smile on him. James threw the two a sour look for clearly trying to smother some humor.

"Err, is Buckbeak there or something?" Remus asked.

"Actually that's a good question," Sirius suddenly looked a little concerned, "where is that hippogriff? I don't see why I would have kept him around for a whole year but then not have wanted to keep him, but that's not exactly a friendly place for the beast."

"I'm sure Buckbeak's fine," Harry soothed with a soft smile, he found it adorable how concerned Sirius was for the beast and had a sneaking suspicion Sirius would enjoy the answer.

"Oh, he's dreaming," James realized.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Sirius snorted without looking up, "here I thought Hagrid had snuck into the room to tell Harry this."

"That was probably one of the most normal dreams you've ever had," Lily giggled.

"It does make some sense as Hagrid's been known to let information slip before, so if he does know the answer to this mystery thing I'd put money Hagrid'll help you figure it out," Remus agreed.

"Fascinating," Sirius pouted, now honestly wishing he could hand over the book to Harry early or something, he had no want to read of this place even if it did give him some small pleasure to hear of the disrepair it was in. He resisted the impulse though, he'd forced himself to read through worse, that stupid house wasn't even so bad as other things.

"I'm surprised she trusts them to be around such fearsome and dangerous creatures without having them all in bubblewrap," James huffed.

"I'm impressed you know what bubblewrap is," Lily tried to poke fun in favor of agreeing, at least trying to break out of her own bad mood at any mention of her.

James remained in a fuming silence, so Lily worked out for herself who must have introduced that to him.

"Seems without dear old Mum around, Kreacher takes the Black name to new levels with that house," Sirius sniffed in disgust. He did find it a bit odd, he'd have thought that vermin would keep the place as pristine as his favored Mistress had always wanted it, but he supposed without direction the old thing would circle into the useless state Sirius had always claimed he was. He could live with that.

"Now that would be an interesting argument," Remus smirked at the thought.

"I think I found out what you're doing with Buckbeak," Remus blinked in surprise.

"Either that, or I'm fixing to get some really interesting revenge on Molly," Sirius agreed.

"Still okay with this," Sirius chuckled.

"There are so many ways I can laugh about this, I can't decide which to chose," James blinked spastically while Sirius chose outright joy and promptly fell back against his seat laughing so hard his face was turning red.

Lily watched his amusement fondly, but she was honestly a bit saddened by it as well. What had his mother done to him that would cause him to be so bitter and happy about this petty insult. She couldn't help her mind flicking back to Molly. If this is what Molly saw of Sirius from the beginning, she almost empathized with the woman who only saw the face of Sirius and his careless ways. She hadn't taken the time to get to know him, and really would just see the reckless man who thought of nothing but himself. It didn't excuse the way she'd spoken to him though, not by a long shot, so she forced herself to stop thinking about the matter.

Sirius was trying to speak in a light way as well, he didn't want to get his friends yelling about her again, nor did he want to dwell on it himself.

"But who doesn't want to announce their arrival like that," Remus rolled his eyes.

James was still so rankled he wanted to shoot something at Molly just for that tiny little thing.

Sirius sighed, and to redirect something he could feel coming, he instead threw out, "well someone's definitely still on guard duty over something, and they're hiding, why else would they need a cloak around?"

The others didn't disagree, but no one played along in speculating with him, Harry just because he had no more new information and an already building headache at the idea of this thing again.

"Why does she still have that?" Remus sputtered in disgust.

"The information is still right, even if he did steal it from someone else," Harry reminded.

"Did you never tell her, or Dumbledore never told anyone about him?" James asked as they hadn't heard anything about it otherwise.

"I never did," Harry shrugged, he hadn't taken much of an interest in Lockhart after he'd left school, though it did leave Harry wondering why he thought he might see him again.

The others hoped that at least Dumbledore had informed the public of that sham, preferably putting some kind of charges on Lockhart in the process for what he'd done.

"Did Ron get bitten by anything last year?" Sirius randomly asked as he remembered his first three years. "I think a pattern got broke, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't pick up again."

"Sirius, you were the last thing to bite Ron," Harry reminded sadly, causing Sirius to quickly decide the change the subject, as he had not forgotten that.

"What's she going to do with them afterwards?" Harry asked.

"Probably toss them outside and let them find somewhere else to nest," Lily shrugged.

"She won't even let them properly investigate what they're spraying? They could be trying to educate themselves on these little things," Sirius told with a wide eyed expression Harry was sure never fooled a single teacher.

"What is he doing though?" Lily asked in confusion, this had gone from playfully joking around to them clearly up to something.

"Fingers crossed Harry asks," James said eagerly.

Remus at once tried to lean over and see what this new mischief was about, but Sirius just as quickly pushed his face back away and ducked protectively over the book to read on loudly at this already brilliant name, he had no doubts it would be followed up with some new invention of the twins he was going to love!

Lily's mouth was hanging open by the end and Sirius just had to stop for a moment to marvel at this.

"That is, brilliant," Remus managed to get out first, blinking spastically as he thought through it. "I've never heard of that, yet the idea is so-"

"This is the best idea ever!" James shouted as he began bouncing in his spot. "My word how did we never come up with this? It's fantastic!"

Sirius didn't even look like he wanted to keep going, all the boys were clearly fixing to have a full blown chat about the ideas of this and what could have gone into such a thing while still praising the twins genius, so Lily had to clear her throat hard to keep them on track. Sirius did eagerly return though, he wanted to know more!

"Testers?" James repeated with a grin, wondering of which brother had befallen this trick first.

"A fair assumption, along with those banging noises I remember being mentioned coming from their rooms," Lily grinned indulgently. "Clearly this has been a long standing practice to try their material on each other."

"I'd be insulted if it wasn't by this point," Remus' shoulders kept shaking he was trying to force himself to stay quiet enough through his laughter so Sirius wouldn't stop.

"That's the best start they could ask for," James agreed at once. "Can't start too big, they still look to inexperienced. I've no doubts it's going swimmingly though!"

This clearly didn't impress anyone but Harry, who found the gesture oddly nice, and a blessing as it saved him from hearing about another row that could land him and the twins in some very hot water.

"And I still don't care," James said nastily.

"Dad," Harry groaned for the tone.

"Nope," he snapped back at once, not budging an inch.

"James, I'm still angry to, but don't antagonize him," Lily sighed to cut off Harry who really may have said something back.

James just rolled his eyes while Harry was still looking sadly at the pair of them.

Most of them got a revengeful giggle out of that, the Marauders more than anything as they really were wondering if this emphasis Sirius had on killing rats of late had some not so subtle meaning.

"They were shown to have grabbed at least two each by now," Remus raised a curious brow, "and I'm still not even sure what they think they're going to use Doxy venom for. It dosen't cause vomiting, so I'm sure they should be good."

"I'm positive they've been at it long enough they won't raise suspicion to their mother," Sirius assured.

"They might be using them for a new pill," James offered, "after all, if they've already got one almost out of the testing stages, then they're probably right on track with the next, maybe it'll cause some kind of fever since that's what doxy venom is known to do."

"You would be correct," Sirius sighed, clearly not noticing more than anyone else Harry's sudden unease about those cabinets.

"Just put them all in a playpen and put up baby gates everywhere, I'm sure that'll hold them," James mocked.

"Glory that man has a death wish," Lily's brows began creeping into her hairline. "Dragging that stuff there, isn't that what he went to do instead of watching you? With Molly and Sirius already there and in bad moods."

"This could turn into a bloodbath," James agreed, though he didn't sound particularly concerned.

Sirius suddenly paused with a stupid smirk in place, and Remus and James were already bracing themselves as Sirius turned to Harry and said, "hey pup, what does your best mate and those have in common?"

At Harry's blank look, Sirius continued on in the same breath, "they're both called Ron!"

It took a moment, Harry mouthed the word again to himself, then his eyes brightened and he laughed like Sirius had just made another pun about his own name.

The others were honestly beginning to wonder if Harry may be faking that to indulge Sirius, it couldn't really be that funny? Sirius clearly didn't care though as he kept reading cheerfully.

"I'm sure Percy and his Cauldron Bottom report would just love to get his hands on this," Remus snorted.

"Doesn't seem like she likes much of anything," James muttered.

"Why would they want to?" Sirius had an odd smile in place as he was picturing the carnage to come. "Don't they get enough of their mum yelling? I'd think they'd enjoy from a distance her turning on someone else."

"They're not going to be discussing anything about the Order anytime soon, but better safe than sorry I suppose," Remus shrugged.

"There it is," James nodded without surprise.

"Is that all she's going to do though, shout?" Sirius pouted. "I really was hoping she'd do a bit more, like hex him."

"I'm sure that's where you'll step in," Remus chuckled.

"Again, even against his will, it is Sirius' place," James sniffed. "Don't see how she can say all that."

"You know you'd agree with her at the moment," Lily scolded softly, keeping her eyes on the book intently. "Stop being petty and listen."

James was still scowling but shut his trap.

"Poor boys have learned that from experience," Remus winced for them.

"Oh joy," Sirius' interest vanished at once as he realized the topic was getting switched off of yelling about Dung. He'd rather Harry snuck out now to keep watching what Molly did best, this one was going to be far worse.

"Most elves act invisible actually," James told Harry, "that's how they're trained. It really is odd this is the first one you're properly interacting with."

"Wouldn't have been my first choice," Sirius grumbled.

Everyone was angry by the end of that rotten little speech, though all for entirely different reasons, at least Sirius didn't feel bad about how he was now reading as if speaking about his own mother and no one was going to tell him off for it, they all saw entirely why.

"Don't know why he bothered," Sirius grumbled, "he turns around and says it to their faces again anyways."

"I can't believe he really says all that," Lily sighed.

"Why do you think my mother prefered him over me?" Sirius reminded with a hard look. "I refused to say any of that, yet he went around saying it all the time."

"Why'd he call him master?" Harry asked, his burning hatred of Kreacher still at the top with everyone else, completely ignoring any other feelings he might have for the thing.

"He is a pureblood," Remus reminded, "so he does it on instinct. It won't hold wait for anyone but Sirius though."

"Wish I didn't," James grumbled, he'd only met Kreacher in person once, and he'd never again laughed at thinking his friend exaggerated this thing.

"Those unnatural little beasts are the most brilliant thing that's ever existed," Remus scoffed, "so Kreacher clearly has no idea what true talent is."

"I much prefer cursing him, but laughing in his face is a good start," Sirius agreed.

Harry kept watching his Godfather curiously, like he was hoping he'd answer that, but Sirius decided the less he spoke about Kreacher, the less swear words that would be involved, so the less Lily would keep glaring at him.

Sirius still despised having to say that, if there was one thing he'd punish Kreature for saying outright it was that, stupid thing was lucky he wasn't in the room to hear that one.

"It's always nice to not be recognized," Harry grumbled as he still glared hatefully at the book for referring to his friend like that.

Sirius got all that out through gnashing his teeth in frustration, oh he had a very good idea what his Mum would say to Hermione, and Lily.

"Always love Ron's automatic defense of her," James smiled, "now Ginny's joined in."

"I think they've shared a room two summers in a row now," Lily reminded fondly, "I suppose they've grown a bit close."

"I can not believe she's actually defending this thing," Sirius grumbled with disgust.

"So, were we meant to hear that, or is he talking to himself some more?" Harry asked.

"If he answers you without the insults, he's actually answering," Sirius huffed.

"More like moved the body back to the gutter," Lily rolled her eyes.

"There's my Padfoot!" James beamed upon hearing that.

"Can't believe it's taken you this long to play a joke on your name," Remus agreed affectionately.

Sirius didn't seem to plesased with himself for now, though the shock of his friends actually indulging him in doing this was more than enough to pull him into a slightly less bad mood.

"Wasn't much of one to break," he inserted with a mutter.

"Sirius, please don't parrot yourself," Lily groaned. "No one wants to hear that twice."

"Not my fault it was so true it deserved to be said twice," Sirius smirked.

Harry really felt a lot of sympathy towards Sirius more with every word he spoke. Had his mother really said all that to his face, repeatedly? Enough he said it again without much more care in his voice than of normally speaking about an elf he hated so much.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Remus said deadpan, though they all looked to Harry in concern when he flinched at that for seemingly no reason.

"Don't know what he's bothering with," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I already know that things got another Permanent Sticking Charm on it."

"Do I want to know how you know that?" Lily asked with honest curiosity.

"Nope," he said simply, popping the p for emphasis.

Sirius frowned uncertainly as he phrased it like that. The memory was clear as day in his own mind, but the idea it may have faded all together while he was in Azkaban was only one of the disturbing things he'd realized he'd soon be experiencing.

"Several colorful things, quite centered around Kreacher, though I'm sure she'd find a way to throw my name in there even before I came back," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Wish he was," Remus muttered so only Sirius could here.

"So that makes it alright for thinking it?" James demanded with a poisonous brow.

"Don't know what stopped me from doing it the second I walked in there though before this could start," Sirius huffed.

"I'm actually worried it would be the same reason Dumbledore's telling to keep you in there dear," Lily said tentatively, already feeling bad for him being in such a bad mood, but she had been wondering the same thing of him. "If you set him free of you, he'd immediately go running off to the next person in line who he thought should have him, like the Malfoy's. Do you really want Voldemort knowing you've been to your house recently, a place where you were looking into Headquarters."

Sirius' face flushed with frustration as he couldn't work a way to argue that point, but he still snapped back his other point, "that doesn't change how stupid it is to keep me in there all the time! We're in the exact same circumstance as last year, what's the sudden need to force me to stay in!"

Lily did not want to start an actual argument with him, and as he was near shouting at the end it was clearly headed that way, but she also was hoping that maybe someone explaining this to him would lessen his mood just a bit as she pointed out, "well no actually, the big difference is Voldemort is back now. You can't go back to those mountains, not with, him, knowing them just as well as you. Can't stay at Remus' place as he's more than likely being watched by Death Eaters as well just waiting for you to arrive."

"Dosen't mean I have to be there!" Sirius seethed, a vein starting to thump with frustration against his temple. "Pick any vacant house in London and I'd rather be there!"

"Would you really though?" Her voice kept growing quieter the louder his was getting. "Away from even those meetings that you'd rarely visit at that place, kept even further out of the loop, and so far away you couldn't get visitors or even help if it came to that."

Sirius was physically chewing on his tongue to stop himself shouting back at Lily that didn't make this right, but he seemed to have run out of comebacks for now as he turned back to the pages.

The others had watched the exchange with silent fascination, Remus in particular wondering if this had been the exact same way Dumbledore had handled Sirius into being there.

"You don't have to say that with so much pleasure," Lily sighed, which Sirius blatantly ignored.

"What does that translate to?" Harry asked cautiously, as Sirius still seemed likely to explode any second.

"Always Pure," James answered for him as Sirius was still trying to pretend the others weren't in the room.

James still winced as he remembered how his brother had turned up that night. Harry was dying to ask for details, but Sirius was still in such a foul mood he wasn't sure if he'd get it or continue being ignored.

James and Sirius both winced at the reminder while Lily placed her hand lovingly over her husbands. James' parents had only passed away the previous year from Dragon Pox, and it was still sharp to both boys. They hadn't even lived long enough to meet their only grandchild. Lily was still happy James had never suggested giving their son his father's name, it would have been too hard to tell him no.

"Thought that was obvious," Sirius sniffed which sounded a bit more watery than he meant it to.

Remus couldn't even bring himself to break the tension with a joke about Sirius' vanity, it was still a horrid reminder Sirius didn't even come close to keeping his appearances up like he did now, their Padfoot would never let his hair get anywhere near unkempt.

Sirius felt something just  _ wilt  _ inside him at the news that his brother wasn't even alive. Or at least, he wouldn't be in a very short time, as it was nearing the end of October now. He wasn't even sure why he was so surprised, he'd told that little idiot the day he'd found out he was going to join the Death Eater's he'd meet a fast end, and Regulus had just laughed him off. That had been the last time Sirius had seen his brother...and now Sirius realized he wasn't going to see him again. Because a quick math problem told him right now, that the year of his death was  _ this  _ year.

"Sirius?" James whispered softly, not really sure if he even wanted to get his attention, but willing to do anything to get rid of that blank look on his brother's face.

Sirius shook himself, blinking several times before he put up a smile no one believed. He tisked and put as much carelessness in his voice as he could muster, which wasn't much even to his own ears, "why should I care? Told him this was going to happen, and he told me to f' off. S'not like I care," he finished with a mutinous huff, clearly failing at believing that himself as much as he was trying to convince the others.

Sirius still managed to read that with a burning hatred that he'd yet had the pleasure of turning on his parents, but now he would be very, very soon. Those idiots had gotten his little brother killed by convincing him it was a good idea to do this, filling his head with lies from the age he was born. Of course it was his own fault as well, weak willed little shit he was who'd never bothered telling their parents no, or anyone for that matter.

Sirius was becoming so twitchy at this topic that he was beginning to fall under the threat of tearing pages out, but he was also clearly refusing to hand the book over as well.

Sirius heard someone choking in shock for that news, but he continued reading on loudly over whoever so that he could hope for more, his mind just couldn't grasp the little idiot earning that  _ pleasure. _

Sirius couldn't force himself to keep going for a moment, just sitting there in stupor as he realized, he'd done it. His brother had actually tried to take a step back, out, to leave all that. Where the hell had he been when this was happening? What if Regulus had tried to reach out to him, right now, would he listen? His instant answer was yes of course, but this was now knowing that he'd got killed for clearly trying. Yesterday, before he'd heard this from his own mouth? Perhaps not, as he'd just think it was some ploy.

He was almost grateful when Remus cut into his train of thought by demanding, "Sirius, how on Earth would you know that?"

Sirius had to blink a few times, and shook his head to clear it as he muttered, "no clue. I certainly never heard of this now. Maybe I really did go looking him up after I got out of, well after. Trying to think of someone I'd trust to both know this and I'd ask, and maybe it was from Andromeda."

"That makes sense," James agreed fairly. "You've mentioned she still stays in touch with her sisters, Narcissa anyways, and I'll bet they've said something about this and maybe you ask her."

Sirius wasn't as keen on the idea, as Andromeda's contact with her sisters was the reason Sirius didn't go around seeing her much. He was never sure how much he could entirely trust her, as he absolutely did not trust Narcissa at all, but Dromeda still sent frequent owls to her favorite sister. Sirius had no clue if Lucius even knew about it, he'd asked and Andromeda had always said Cissy had never exclusively said anything about it. Still, the woman had stayed married to a Muggle-born and had one hell of a daughter, so Sirius did hope he'd get back in contact with his favorite cousin, and he guessed he could still count on her for some kind of information about his little brother.

"Lovely," Lily squidged up her face in disgust while her husband moved a few inches closer to her.

"I still don't understand sticking them up on a wall," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Trophies of how many generations the house has carried," Sirius said without any of his usual mocking, or voice imitation, or anything to really show he even realized he'd answered. His eyes were still vacant.

"It can't just be the tapestry though," James disagreed, "otherwise he wouldn't take Orders from you as well."

"Guess it is marginally more specific than that," Sirius agreed restlessly, his thoughts still on a brother he'd disowned and was now bitterly regretting. "It has to be my surname or nothing, unless he so chooses."

Sirius wondered what Andromeda had been thinking while he'd been accused those twelve years of his crime. Had she believed he'd been fooling everyone as well? Or had his years in showing his approval of her husband kept her convinced and she just hadn't been able to do anything for him? Neither answer was comforting, as he still couldn't forget the one person who had believed it all, and Remus should know him better than anyone.

"Because I always love that reminder," Sirius sneered.

"Does that magically update itself, or were your parents alive to add that?" Harry asked.

"Magically," Sirius replied, though still unsure of when his parents had kicked away, the answer was still true.

"Reminding me that I'm technically related to him as well," Harry groaned.

"About as much as I am, and I don't even make the list," James said with chipper. "Potters got labeled as blood traitors way back when all of this nasty business was still being developed, so we hardly even get recognized at it, yet we still manage a pureblood lineage. I still claim it's by accident more than anything."

James couldn't help a little wince Sirius hadn't used him as an example. He supposed it was easier, them being right there in the room, but he also wondered if it didn't have more to do with the fact it must hurt Sirius something terrible to still say his name.

Harry felt a nasty, creeping feeling rising up inside of him at Sirius mentioning her.

"Voldemort mentioned them," Remus quietly reminded, causing Harry to wince but acknowledge with a nodd that must be where this bad feeling was coming from. They were still in Azkaban, obviously he had no connection to her.

"Oh wow," James blinked in surprise. "Didn't even occur to me that was her, though it does explain the nutjob qualities of that woman."

Sirius wished he could join along, mock back the situation, but he really was finding it harder with every line to pretend enthusiasm at this topic of his heritage.

"That's not where you remember her name from, they didn't mention any of them by name in that," Lily gently reminded.

"I just put them together like that," Harry agreed.

'No, they're all dead,' Sirius hated the nasty little thought that flitted through his mind, but then he glanced to either side of him and amended, 'not all of them.'

Sirius still hated the hitch that tore through his throat as he was once again reminded of that, it seemed to manage to hurt worse every single time, though not nearly as bad as watching those around him flinch because of it.

Lily felt like she'd been smacked in the face for ever suggesting it was a good idea for Sirius to be in there now. Safety reasons be damned if Harry comparing his life to how Sirius' must look in that moment, and his tone completely agreed with Harry's comparison. She'd vouch for him living at Hogwarts in the boys dormitory then before she'd push him into that place. "Sirius, I'm so sorry, I never should have said it was any good for you to be there, I just-"

"It's alright Lils," he grunted, though he did meet her eyes so he clearly wasn't really that mad still. "I was more pissed I couldn't think of anything to argue back, probably can't with Dumbledore either which is probably why it's working."

Lily flushed, she didn't want to be compared to Dumbledore right now as angry as she was with him. She still wanted to tell him of her idea he just stay at Hogwarts, but Sirius seemed to find that conversation done as he kept going.

"Wait, he can do that?" Remus face puckered in confusion.

"That doesn't make any sense," Lily agreed uneasily, suddenly tense in her husband's arms of all that this made them wonder. "If the person can be Secret Keeper, then why weren't James or I just one? I was going off the assumption you couldn't live at the house to be one, no offense Sirius love," she quickly added.

Sirius waved that off, he completely agreed, but he couldn't unlock his jaw to any more than scowl hatefully into the fireplace for the reminder of this.

"Maybe this time they just had more time to test the idea and figure this out," Harry offered uneasily, he could already tell they all just wanted to move on from this topic, but it was a good question, and one that he'd been wondering himself. "When you two used it for the first time, you did say Mum it was a lost spell Dumbledore must have come across and put up spur of the moment. Didn't have time to test the idea past well, using the first volunteer or-" he broke off as he couldn't play this off anymore or ignore the building growl coming from all the boys.

Sirius got the gist of Harry's idea, and it did make sense, so he forced himself to keep reading loudly before he started digging a hole in Lily's carpet to get out of here.

"I wish you wouldn't," James hated having to say it while Sirius was looking to his breaking point any second now, as literally every topic he hated hearing had all come up in this one chapter! Throw in some mentions of dementors and Snape and he'd hit the jackpot. Still, that didn't stop him reminding, "there are enchantments all over that place to stop people from concealing themselves inside there Pads, you know that. We've never tested the idea an Animagus can get through there unchecked."

"Maybe we should," Sirius insisted, his eyes too bright, but just wanting to think of anything good for a moment, and being there for Harry was certainly one of them. "Send in Mcgonagall first, have her scope out the place as a tabby with Dumbledore, or some other member of the Order for some cock n bull reason like-"

"You're assuming she's in the Order," Remus reminded, "she's not this time around, though Dumbledore trusts her. What makes you think she is the second time?"

Sirius sat there stumped for a moment, then finally snapped and barked at him, "can't I just have one good idea for one second!"

Remus raised his hands in surrender while Sirius turned fumingly back to the pages.

"Look Lily, some of what you say does get through to him," James forced a smile none of them felt, when were they going to leave this house already? Sirius acting like this was really dragging them all down.

"I have no idea," Sirius informed his future self, even if he did have an odd look in place for doing so.

"Yes, how dare they have a private moment," James sneered.

"How does she keep managing to have the worst timing," Remus agreed with him, "one more second, and Sirius would have asked for details about that!"

"Wartcap powder," Lily quietly told Harry before he could ask, "used in a lot of fire protection potions."

"I can see why they'd have a use for that," Remus smiled to himself, "I'm convinced they must have set a few accidental fires in their time, and that's not particularly easy to come by."

Lily shivered at the idea of that thing, and managing to find it extra fascinating Ginny had been the one to fight off such a thing. Guess the poor girl must have an extra sense now of things trying to charm her into submission.

The moment Sirius read that, Harry felt such a huge wave of nausea and vertigo, he actually momentarily blacked out for a moment. He came back peering at the book in shock, his hand pressed hard to his temple as he tried to understand where that had come from. The last time he'd felt something so powerful, was when he'd heard about Ginny's diary...but what did this have to do with that? He wondered if he was finally cracking, if his memories were just getting so disjointed that he could no longer separate what he was hearing now and what he may be feeling in the future. He refused to linger on it, waving off everyone's concern and promising he wasn't pushing at anything as he insisted Sirius just go on.

Harry suddenly didn't think of that award in the same way if it really could be handed out all willy nilly like that.

"He had a real talent for that at least," Sirius agreed with any resemblance of fondness he was positive he could ever foster for that thing. "Taught me most of my vocabulary."

"Great, now I dislike him as much as you," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Fascinating to walk in on I'm sure," Remus tried for a genuine smile.

"Well sometimes you manage to mess up the first pot, and it becomes a real hassle to hunt down another, I really can see him taking some time," James agreed fairly, not one of them held any humor for that, not after Aragog.

Harry had many times believed and thought that Hogwarts felt like a living presence to him, but he wasn't as happy to be thinking the same about this old place.

"Sirius!" Lily tried to groan in rebuke, but it came out more as a sigh of acceptance she just couldn't fight him on this.

"Wish I could do that to everyone who calls my friends and family that," he replied easily.

"There's a relief," James groaned, he had to stand that guy enough at school, no need to add to his ever growing list outside of the place.

"Ha!" Sirius barked as he waved a triumphant finger into Moony's face.

Remus took the prod in the nose from that with acceptance, though he did still wonder what the difference was in Dumbledore including her that time but not now. Though maybe she was a member now, in deep secret that they didn't even know about. He couldn't imagine what the motive for that would be, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were secret Order members they didn't know about either.

Remus winced, but no one looked very surprised except Harry. He was dying to ask just what this 'work' was, but even judging from how pail he'd gone now and a look he'd grown accustomed to seeing over them all at any mention of his lycanthropy, Harry thought he had a pretty good guess, so why bother him over it for details.

"How could you not want to keep that feature?" Remus asked in a too high voice that James and Sirius still managed to smile at nonetheless.

"Well so long as he has his uses," Lily murmured approvingly, hoping this would help Molly to lighten up all around now that she saw there was more than one side to everyone. She really was hoping to hear of a make up between her and Sirius before Harry went back to school, an apology really was in order for Sirius.

Harry rubbed furiously at his scar now as he gazed blearily around in confusion, still trying to resist word vomit anytime that place was mentioned even if his scar wasn't paining him now.

The others dearly wanted to speculate on this now. At first it had made sense in the dreamscape of his trapped feelings at Private Drive, but now? They supposed he could be feeling trapped and suppressed by that hearing, so the recurring dream would stay, but none of them liked how Harry kept reacting to it like it should mean more.

"They can't," Sirius voice broke on that though, and he couldn't pretend to keep going. There was a lot of things lately the Ministry supposedly couldn't do, and yet had been doing. It whipped them all terribly they couldn't be of any comfort to Harry about this, but Harry still didn't look nearly as worried about this as he just had about that locked corridor nonsense, so they tried to console themselves if this had happened, he'd be a lot more panicky about this.

"I'm positive you give the place a brighter charm pup, even though that's not a needed option," Sirius put more enthusiasm into that than he had this whole book so far, managing to make Harry smile up at him for real.

"Well she's not wrong," Lily muttered petulantly, still not entirely happy with agreeing about anything with her, even universal advice.

"Since when do I pass every solitary action by that man," Sirius ground out in frustration. "What, am I supposed to start telling him when I use the loo? Would he like to know my regular schedule of how often I-"

"Padfoot, considering how well I know you, please don't finish that," Remus finished almost pleadingly, while Sirius harrumphed but kept going on testily.

"Run that by me again, I don't think I quite bought the sincerity of that," James sighed.

"He couldn't have woken me up?" Harry yipped in protest.

"Apparently you were too busy, must have been in a private meeting of your own," Sirius stated just to agitate Moony who refused to look over at him. Sirius just grumbled when he got no reaction and finished.

"Chapter's over," Sirius groaned as he thrusted the book into Harry's lap. "By the way, I completely agree, the man's behaving like a wanker towards you, not bothering to once come by and hear your side."

"You can't have it both ways Sirius," Remus sighed. "You can't go complaining one minute he's too involved in Harry's life, and then say you're annoyed he hasn't checked up on Harry when the man would know Harry's fine."

"There's a difference and you know it," Sirius snapped back, but Harry was already flipping to the next chapter to avoid an argument, even if he was on Sirius' side.

*Oops, ignore my earlier * back in chapter four, my brain completely skipped the fact that this was mentioned right here, so hope you enjoyed that.

  
  



	7. THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

 

I'm sorry if these chapters are starting to feel a little monotonous, but thankfully this is where things start to pick up again. I'm still going to ruin a bunch of people's days by reminding I'm not adding anyone else to this reading series, sorry you guys are stuck with who's here.

HPHPHPHP

Harry desperately hoped that this chapter would be the hearing, so that he could be done with it already. He really was playing off to his family how unconcerned he was, and doing a pretty good job of it considering he always had something else so far to distract him. He just couldn't shake off that it was eating away at him though, there would come a time where he'd be leaving Hogwarts for a long, extended period of time, and it wasn't because he graduated. This wasn't because he was expelled though, right?!

"Harry, you get lost in those pages? We're not that far in," James called as Harry just kept staring without starting. Harry gave a soft jump, but managed half a smile for his dad before he got started.

Lily pressed her lips very firmly together. She didn't even know what would have come out of Molly doing this for her son, again, but she knew Harry wouldn't have appreciated the comment as he was clearly touched by the thought.

"Wonder just how often she changes that," Sirius tried, and failed, to keep the jitteriness out of his own voice at what Harry could be fixing to read.

"On the hour I'm sure, I know you would," Remus tried, and failed, at a joking tone.

"I'm sure that helped to wake her up," James did get up a smile for that.

Harry shifted unconsciously at the sound of that name, while Lily wondered what that old Auror was up to.

"Hang on, I know that surname," Sirius ruffled his brow before snapping his fingers and saying, "that's right, Brutus Scrimgeour wrote a book called The Beater's Bible."

"Which holds all of one page, and one sentence," Remus rolled his eyes, "take out the Seeker, so I hardly think he should be held in such high esteem."

"That was a work of art that was," Sirius insisted, but for once Harry didn't really want to sit around and watch them pick at each other, so he was actually glad when Lily told them to quiet down.

"Not about Sirius though?" James yelped, now very well distracted by Harry's problem.

"I'm sure that's what I'm keeping tabs on," Remus pacified.

"Which means you weren't paying attention," Sirius pouted, as he had been a bit curious to hear the end of that.

"I find it hard to believe the woman you've so consistently praised for her cooking could manage to ruin toast," Remus smirked.

"Must have something to do with having to eat all by his lonesome, that can be awkward for some," Sirius did get in an almost playful tone.

"So do I," Lily couldn't seem to stop that one escaping, causing Harry to wince and not look up at her.

"How did you manage to phase out the best part of that conversation?" James pouted. "They were talking about this mysterious guard duty again! If you can't find out about this stupid thing Voldemort wants, at least you could focus on that!"

Harry could just feel a sucker punch winding up to get him good if he even considered pausing on the phrasing of that for just a second, even if he was dying to linger on why those two things should be put together...

"He didn't phase out anything," Lily scolded, misunderstanding Harry's look. "Tonks just switched topics, don't go blaming Harry when he's been shown repeatedly to pick up on conversations that aren't even going on right next to him."

"What on earth are they guarding that's so lax he can be doing homework while sitting on it?" Remus blinked in surprise. "I'd think that would have fallen under Harry watching duty."

"Whatever it is must be boring as drywall," Sirius agreed, meaning it couldn't be that important, just some side project. Why couldn't he at least be doing that then? He didn't bring it up though just because he didn't want to hear someone telling him again of where he was supposed to be.

"Can't honestly think of anything to say to that either," James agreed.

"Haven't heard of her," Lily muttered nervously.

Harry wasn't at all comforted he had no actual feelings for this being said, maybe that meant it was so uneventful and he walked away in complete comfort? Then why was he feeling such a bad omen for what had just been read?

"You know that kind of advice from him really is a walking oxymoron," Remus smirked.

"So everyone keeps saying," Harry grumped, "yet I can't help but notice no one can looked me in the eyes when they do."

"No," all five of them said as one, James in fact ruffling up his hair for emphasis.

"Least you know Sirius doesn't play around with the important things," James chuckled, leaving Harry still unsure how much of a joke that was supposed to be.

"That is the most honest thing anyone's yet said to him," Lily said grudgingly.

While none of them outright disagreed with that, this did feel quite odd to them. Harry had needed a whole guard to escort him to Grimmauld place from the Dursleys, but now just Arthur was deemed safe enough to get Harry there? The date of Harry's leaving that place had been unknown to even him, yet the fact that there was unquestionably spies in the Ministry who would know this date, and so could be in fact planning an ambush for Harry to arrive by his lonesome seemed honestly like a far more likely possibility. It genuinely bugged the current Order members they couldn't seem to get a handle on this Order's priorities, regarding Harry or anything!

"I really just can not wait to meet him in person," Lily said with honest fondness at the idea of him, he just seemed so pleasant and happy to be around even while he was being as on guard and serious as possible.

"Doesn't make them any less interesting," James said even without knowing what that was, and honestly not bothering to ask.

"If he usually Apparates, how does he even know where he's going?" Harry asked just for something to kick around a bit of conversation and not dwell on what he was heading towards. Why was the idea of going to the Ministry filling him with such heavy amounts of dread? Just what happened here to make him feel like running screaming from the room? This couldn't all be tied to his fear of being expelled-

"I'm sure Arthur in particular asked for directions," Lily pointed out, "but I also know that upon anyone's very first time there they have to go in through the visitor entrance, and so have to get there in the Muggle way somehow. I'm confident Arthur's just going off his memories of his first few visits there."

"Because that's encouraging to hear from your guide," Remus snorted.

Harry reopened his mouth with questioning eyes on his mother, who shrugged and corrected herself, "perhaps I was generalizing a bit too much then, I was speaking as a Muggleborn. I suppose as Arthur has most likely been there before he got a job, just like Ron in his youth, then it was simply just asking for directions."

"After you've seen the Leaky Cauldron?" James reminded. "I'd have thought by now you'd learned we like to conceal our things on the outside as undesirable as possible from Muggles."

"It still threw me off," Harry shrugged.

Harry glanced around curiously, but saw no one else looking particularly surprised, which meant they'd all used this at least once. He decided to just roll with it rather than asking, as he was fixing to find out anyways.

Lily smiled to herself, though this time she was entirely sure she was the only one who got the joke of what those numbers could spell on a telephone, the word magic.

Harry's eyes flipped wide in surprise, but only for a moment before he moved on like this was now perfectly natural to him. Lily almost longed for that childish awe she'd seen on his face at every new magical thing he'd come across back during the first few books, and suddenly wanted her baby back in her arms for just a moment, just a reminder she could still have some of her baby to her.

"It's underground?" Harry said in surprise.

"Can make the place as big as they like that way," James agreed.

Lily frowned to herself, now wishing because of before she could see that expression on him again, but he didn't seem too moved by the reappearance of this place in his mind. If anything he was looking more ill the longer they lingered on the place.

"It is," Sirius agreed, "though those are actually enhanced star trackers and constellations in symbol form."

Harry couldn't decide if he was joking or not, but laughed all the same.

Harry was getting more ancy the longer he kept getting out a description of that place, unconsciously moving closer to Sirius with every new thing that left his brain feeling like swiss cheese.

James snorted in disgust, that fountain was the most idiotic thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"I wonder how much income that actually generates," Lily said randomly.

"I like to think it at least makes someone happy to think it's helping," Sirius said fairly, he'd been known to dump a handful of coins in it every time he passed, which admittedly wasn't often.

"Those magic well wishes have to come true at some point," Lily told him with a grin, causing Harry to at least smile at her again.

"Gee thanks," James rolled his eyes, though he did understand how monotonous and boring that man's job must be, it sounded impossible to muster up enthusiasm especially that early in the morning.

Sirius gave a sarcastic little applause for him taking so long to realize this.

"I'm sure that has an interesting story," James said in a strained voice as he watched Remus wince, everyone but Harry knowing which floor that box would most likely be going to.

"No, really, does Arthur know everyone?" Lily shook her head in disbelief as it seemed every time Arthur was mentioned he began speaking to a dozen new people.

"No one ever seems sure about me," Sirius smirked, and Harry finally broke his stream of bad mood to giggle at that again, though it only made the flood of worry rise again to another degree...something about Sirius in this place- he closed his eyes sharply and considered whacking himself in the forehead to get his brain to stop before he really hurt himself and kept going just a spot more loudly.

"I would never breach any such thing!" Sirius yiped, causing Harry to laugh harder and his friends to groan louder.

"There's an Official Gobstones Club?" Harry asked, mouth twitching as he tried to picture something he'd seen as a playful game around Hogwarts in World Cup style with fans cheering on a bunch of people squatting on the ground.

"There's an official everything," James smirked.

Lily was just wondering at that last one, if that was actually a person's name or they really had to create a whole office for the insane patents people invented, both were possible honestly.

"Wouldn't the man who just stepped off with the brooms go to Broom Regulatory Control?" Harry asked, seeming to get into it now of questioning each and every floor and what all those could entail. He wished he didn't have such bad feelings of this place, it sounded fascinating now that he was hearing about it.

"Depends on what the brooms are for honestly," Remus shrugged, "he could be delivering them to someone, or he could have just gotten off on the wrong floor."

Lily blinked in confusion of what those could be for.

"Oh," Lily nodded in understanding, "well that's new."

"Must be nice not to have to banish the mess away all day," James chuckled.

Harry gave a bit of a wince as he read that out, hating any reminder of Percy, even where he used to work.

Remus flinched hard enough he looked like he'd just dodged a deadly spell, and Harry went from looking back at the words, back to him, and blanched in surprise as he realized what about that could bother him so much. "They, they don't really have you labeled as a, as one of those do they?" He demanded.

Remus smiled without humor as he reminded Harry, "I know you took a lesson over this Harry, yes I am classified as a beast."

Harry opened and closed his mouth in outrage, but he couldn't think of how to put into words just how wrong that was, it should go without saying! A dragon was a beast, as were nifflers and that stupid chicken, but Remus fell into the same ranking as them?!

Remus was touched by Harry's reaction, but hoping to get him to move past this he explained, "My parents took me down there and had me registered after I was bitten, though thankfully the Ministry never compared that list with any of Hogwarts students, or staff for that matter, or I could have gotten into a lot of trouble."

"Why would your parents do that?" Harry demanded, his face still simmering with rage. "It clearly wouldn't do you any good."

"It's the law," he quietly reminded, clearly he was only making this worse, and the faces of stone from his friends showed he wouldn't be getting any help in playing this off. "My father was a prominent man in this department, what happened to me became well known, couldn't hardly keep it hidden." The bitterness tinging his voice finally made Harry realize lingering on this was helping nothing.

"I always loved the phrasing of that," Remus muttered to himself, "Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee, they couldn't come up with a better title?"

Sirius snorted quietly just because he agreed, but he was still focused on going to the floor above and giving those who had labeled his friend like that a good bat-bogey hex for starters.

"It didn't mention the office you're in this whole time," Harry noted to his mother

"It dosen't say every single one of them," Lily agreed. "As of now I'm still in the Wizengamot Administration Services, which is a lot of clerical work and learning the laws I'm hoping to one day help with. I'm working my way up to the Wizengamot Services."

For just a moment Harry was entirely sure by that steely glint in her eyes his mother could be a Minister for Magic if she put her mind to it, but then he realized what age she was and he'd never see her any older, and so quickly flipped back to reading.

"You two work on the same floor?" James asked in surprise.

"I've seen him in passing," Lily agreed, "but I've never stopped to have a chat with him. I just know our offices aren't anywhere near each other, I've certainly never visited it."

"Oh that's mature," Remus snorted.

"What I would have done," Sirius agreed with a smirk, except maybe hurricanes were too kind, tornados had much more of an impact.

Harry felt a thrill shoot through him as he found this place. Finally something good he could focus on, he felt no ill will towards this office.

James couldn't help a little intrigue himself. He had entertained the idea through most of his years at Hogwarts, but honestly after realizing what the job had done to Moody, even the fake one but honestly such a good act alike the point still stood, he was now considering some other options. It didn't stop him from listening intently to what he'd been thinking of himself doing.

"Oh joy, so where am I this morning? I here Greece is lovely this time of-" he cut himself off and ducked just in time to stop Moony smacking him again.

"Oh come on Harry, you were even warned why it's best these two in particular not go shouting about being in touch with Dumbledore," Sirius scolded for that lapse in his paying attention. "Surely you'd have guessed it wasn't a good idea for them to even pretend to know each other on anymore than a passing name."

"It caught me off guard," Harry defended, even while he shrugged in agreement he should have been paying more attention.

"That sounds like a dream come true for Kingsley, getting to see me from all sides," Sirius forced a grin that looked almost painful, while James was considering getting up and sitting on him soon to try and force that joke to end.

Sirius' face suddenly puckered with a concern he hadn't had to feel since the first chapter, "what did Hagrid do with my bike?"

"Sirius Onion Black," Remus scolded at once, "I don't find that a top priority."

"Shut it you," Sirius snipped at him. "My real middle name is stupid enough, why did you ever think that was funny?"

"Same reason you seem to think mocking my middle name is," he shrugged without remorse.

Harry interrupted the two with what little he could offer, "as far as I know, err, well I'm sure someone still has it. Maybe Hagrid kept it all this time." There was something stirring in him he didn't quite like about that answer, though he had no idea why that would give him a bad memory.

Sirius did not look too happy about the idea, but as the others considered Sirius getting that monstrosity back at a time like this the worst idea possible, were relieved when Harry changed the subject.

"Kingsley's clearly a master of subtlety," James rolled his eyes.

"About as much as you are," Lily agreed.

"Wonder if he did that on purpose," Remus did get an amused smirk out of that, while James mouthed the word firelegs to himself in confusion.

"I'd be offended to," Lily agreed while she tried to hide her own smile as James realized what had really been meant.

Sirius felt his stomach grumble, which he for once ignored. He couldn't care less about food right now when he needed to know how the rest of Harry's life was going to pan out in him going back to school or not.

Lily's eyes flipped wide in surprise as she yelped, "well it's no wonder I've never found the place! Just what's this, having his whole office in that dingy little corner?"

"Didn't you say it was one of the most popular offices that people requested information from," Harry agreed as he felt the offense for Arthur rearing up in him. "Why would they have the place so dismal?"

"Disrespect," Sirius sniffed in disgust. "The Minister would never want to admit how important an office about Muggle Artefacts could be."

"Not all Ministers are like that surely," Harry persisted, though he wouldn't feel any better if he was told this was a recent downgrade.

"Honestly Harry I wish I knew more," Lily's face stayed the same red in frustration, "but I've no idea, never had to find the place myself as I've always sent an owl along."

Harry still sincerely hoped that Arthur did get what he deserved at some point. Surely the place could be magically expanded and he just liked the small space?

James suddenly felt a whim to go and have Arthur explain those things to him, as he hadn't recognized much of it. He always enjoyed Lily and Sirius telling him about this stuff, but he still had a want to try and make a connection to the Weasley's at least for Harry's sake regarding Ron, even if he wouldn't feel as prone to coming over to the house, he could draw the line at having to be on just passing name mentioning terms with Molly.

They all gave a nasty wince for that reminder, even managing to block out Harry's inquiries of the intricacies of Magic that knew what went on outside it's painting like that.

Harry felt an upsurge of affection go off in him at that particular magazine, but one quick look around and he realized it didn't mean anything to anyone in here. It did manage to make them all the more curious what this could have to do with Sirius, so he read eagerly.

"Oh come on," Sirius pouted, "I wanted to know about that thing. Don't suppose you know that The Quibbler's usual articles are Harry?" He persisted.

"No," Harry said with regret, "but I'm hoping I'm there when it gets passed along so I can find out to." There really was something very dear to him attached to all this.

"Well I definitely can't say Arthur doesn't get up to some interesting things," Sirius said without a trace of sarcasm. He really wanted to go meet him as well, this was just sounding more fascinating by the minute.

"What's a pumble? And what's it have to do with a toilet?" James couldn't stop himself from asking now.

"I think he meant plumber, and they use tools to fix them when they get a leak, instead of us just using a charm," Sirius shrugged.

"I feel like a plumber would have an issue with this one though," Remus chuckled.

Harry felt a sudden bad feeling at Perkins arrival, and rather dwell on that for a moment he turned curiously to ask, "so what's the difference?"

"An Auror goes after, well people like me at that time I suppose," Sirius shrugged, ignoring the wince this caused in everyone else. "Big time criminals who really are a top priority to get put away. The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol deals with more trivial things, hunting down little complaints and mostly getting their exercise in by making house calls and such.

"Aurors have to start in there and work up through some really hard training and a ton of recommendations," James agreed with a suffering look. "It's why it takes so long to make it to Auror status, not many have the patience to work through all that."

Harry was still fascinated by the whole thing, but knew he couldn't play off this moment of dread forever.

"What's got him in such a bother?" Remus stiffened in concern, nothing could have happened to Percy to cause this, right?

"Bet that gave us a bleeding heart attack," Sirius muttered as he kept watching the book for the bomb.

"I feel like that's not entirely 'urgent'," Lily muttered with unease.

Harry's voice was already pitching in concern as he realized he was fixing to go running through a living nightmare.

Sirius said something that Harry guessed must have been learned from Kreacher, but he also didn't need much of a clarification for what it meant. He could already feel that nasty kick to his gut telling him he hadn't read wrong, and in fact should be preparing himself for a hard run that would be more adrenaline kicking than his sprint down to the lake last year.

Lily was too busy with her mouth hanging open to question why those courtrooms would be considered old? She'd press in on such Ministry changes later when she better understood what was being done to her son now?!

"Th-they changed, how could they change the time and place without-" Remus was trying to stutter out a question, but Harry wasn't waiting for anyone to say anything, he was speed reading as if that would somehow make what they were hearing more understandable, but it was only confusing them all more.

'There must be a quicker way to get around that place,' James thought wildly to himself as he kept watching Harry look ready to pass out from stress any moment, was he even taking breaths?

Lily was in such a tense and uneasy mood, she knew she'd have taken someone's head off by that point if she kept being stared at like that.

Harry gave such a gasp his jaw was left shaking slightly as he recoiled into the cushions, but he point blank refused to understand what that burning feeling rising in him was, too utterly focused on this courtroom and all it could mean for him, even if it didn't take much digging on his part to know just how untrue that was. There was something about this place, had been for ages, that had him leaning just that bit closer to Sirius now more than ever.

Sirius felt a wild noise escaping him that could have been a laugh, some irony somewhere in there of how much he hated Snape and those dungeons now being compared to something he could already feel a pulsing loathsome for of this place, and what he could already scent as a set up.

Harry just sat there, gaping down at the pages below him while the others began furiously around him.

"Are you kidding me!" Lily thundered out first. "They really switched the times on you, for what? To make you look bad and show up late? Has someone really gone so petty they just wanted to trip you up?"

"I know you're not that naive Lily," James had his eyes narrowed with absolute distaste at the book as he spoke calculatingly. "This isn't just some stupid prank someone was doing to him to make him look bad. No, this was a real attempt to undermine him, really strive home what those papers have been saying about him to someone."

"I know," Lily muttered in a quiet voice, she just didn't want to believe someone would do that to her baby, especially not the place she worked for.

Remus had several things he'd like to say, none of them in any way nice as he tried to picture the person responsible for doing this to Harry, but the only way to get that visual was by asking Harry, "you going to keep going? I'm ready for this nightmare to be over and you to walk back out of there giving them all the bird."

"Chapter was over," Harry muttered, though his fingers remained tensed around the books bindings, his eyes still unfocused with fear.

Sirius had to reach forward and tug hard to get it out of his grip, and only then did he look around at him and they completely misunderstood the shadow of fear that was still gripping him as he looked at Sirius passing the book to Remus for his turn.

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Normally I would have cut the chapter off with Harry's first line at the end, but since not much happened in this chapter I kept it in for you guys instead of having to wait another week to see that too, hope you enjoyed!

  
  



	8. THE HEARING

I have yet to find a way to express my thanks for the continued support this fic gets other than a million thank yous, and I will never say that enough either! Thanks so much for always keeping up with this!

To NadiyaC; No such thing as too crazy!

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Remus had to swallow hard to force himself into getting started. All of them were still wanting to go out and start smothering someone for what they'd tried to do to Harry, but this nasty hearing had been hanging over their head long enough, and Remus wanted an answer done with already, was Harry really going to pay a price for saving someone's life?

"That's an encouraging start!" Sirius squeaked while Lily continued shaking her head in disgust of Harry having to do this down there.

Lily had her head cocked to the side as her eyes continued narrowing in on this. She couldn't imagine why there would be an audience at a thing like this, but that would still make far more sense than...

"And who's fault is that?" James huffed.

Lily felt her mouth open with a little pop that went unnoticed as the others boys shifted uncomfortably. They didn't need her to tell them this just couldn't be normal, had Harry stepped into the wrong room?

Remus opened his mouth furiously to comment on that, but Lily quickly waved him silent and begged him to just keep going no matter how much she already hated where this was.

Sirius felt his teeth locking into place already, swearing he'd rip up something if those actually lashed Harry into place.

Harry wished he felt more curious than nauseous like he did now thinking of this place. He'd never liked being watched, now he had a crowds sole attention with the distinct feeling he still wasn't going to walk out of there very happy.

James' temper of this not withstanding, he still couldn't just sit there watching Harry sweat so he worked hard to pitch his voice in a silly whisper saying, "dramatic."

It worked for a whole four seconds while Harry grinned at him before turning back, his face somehow even darker upon hearing of this shadowed person.

"I'm not sure if I'd refer to him as a Weasley much anymore," Sirius grumbled.

"I think I'd be more offended if he did acknowledge you," Remus snipped, thinking that Percy meeting Harry's eyes and then Harry seeing any sort of smug expression there would only hurt him worse right now.

'He really has to write all that down,' the thought wildly flickered through Harry's mind as he found himself grasping such odd details, but still deciding he found this slightly more comforting than if he'd seen another Quick-Quotes Quill there.

'Well she got a promotion,' Lily randomly noted, only knowing her now as a woman who'd just been promoted into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She hadn't heard a lot of good things from the work she'd been trying to pass along so far, and now finding she'd been stepped to an even higher position was not at all encouraging for how this was going. Her detached thoughts had her completely missing Harry's suddenly flushed face of covering some immense reaction, none of the others had even paid this any mind and were quickly moving on to try and get to the important parts of this.

"Oh thank Merlin," Remus actually sat back in relief.

"I was starting to think you were going to have to handle the lot of them by yourself," James agreed.

Lily honestly did feel just as relieved as them, she couldn't have asked for a better defense than Dumbledore showing up and reminding them they couldn't be the ones to get Harry kicked out of school for the mess he was in, but that still didn't cover the pure outrage still simmering in her that her son was having to sit through a full blown trial for one act of underage magic! Just what had happened to her society!

"Brave of them, considering I half expect Fudge to turn and fire them on the spot after all I've heard," James huffed.

The four of them could remember this feeling all too well, it's how they used to feel in the middle of this war whenever they were at meetings and things were starting to look bleak. One glance at their leader though and somehow they felt just that little more assured of their task at hand. Even now, in the face of what all they feared and thought he'd done to their life in this future, that feeling still didn't leave them now as he came swooping in to Harry's rescue.

Lily now had the nasty suspicion that this whole thing may well have been done to in fact make it so Dumbledore wouldn't be in attendance any more than Harry. It did make his arrival all the more satisfactory at least.

Sirius chuckled meanly to himself that the mere presence of Dumbledore had completely diminished Fudge into a dithering idiot again.

James had an odd look on his face, longing to mock the logic of this question being asked after the charges and not while the people's names had been read out, but still angry enough at this situation he didn't really want to be laughing at much of anything.

Lily caught his eye worriedly, wishing she were there to warn him that he would get his time to explain himself, and for now it would have just been best to answer simply and possibly more politely. Yet Harry was also being tried by the whole Wizengamot for this, so clearly societal rules had been torn to shreds for this meeting!

"That's what she caught on!" Harry finally burst out angrily in here. "Not why I'd done the spell!"

"Well to be fair, that really is a feat of magic you seem to underplay a lot," Remus said conversationally enough while Harry rolled his eyes for Remus actually agreeing with this woman.

Harry opened his mouth to ask about that now, but Remus shook his head slightly to show he'd be asking at that time.

James honestly would have laughed at this under any other circumstances, but Harry continually being cut off from saying that very important reason just wasn't any kind of funny.

"Well I'm so sorry it couldn't impress the crowd," Sirius sneered.

"A muggle who knows full well about magic with me living with him, doesn't that give me any leeway?" Harry demanded.

"Not really, no," Lily wished she could think of more to comfort him with, but so far this whole entire thing had only cemented their fears of Harry being railroaded in this place.

"I'd like to do more than talk with him around," Sirius got out through gritted teeth.

"Do they really not know when they're around!" Harry burst out in exasperation.

"Sadly not," Lily shook her head. "The Ministry likes to pretend they've got tabs on the species, but in reality there are more than just at Azkaban and they go rogue running into Muggle neighborhoods from time to time. It doesn't excuse the absolute odds of them running into you," she finished with an eye roll.

Harry really wished he could get more clarification on what magic could and couldn't do, as apparently you could track when a specific spell was being used but not a specific creature?

"If you actually thought Dementors were involved, things never would have gotten this far," Remus said, clearly joining in the laugh with his mocking tone.

"I didn't know that at that time," Harry muttered, real fear starting to creep up in him. If they thought he was lying, than this premonition could be all too real, and he wasn't going back to school...

"He still gets to tell his side of the story whether you believe it or not," Lily had to force everything in her not to shout that. "The rest of the Wizengamot get to decide if he's telling the truth!" She wasn't succeeding very well by the end.

Harry scratched his mind in confusion on who this could be, and realized the only other possibility was Figg. Could Squibs see dementors? He supposed he was about to find out, and didn't bother asking as no one seemed remotely confused on this.

"I'd like to deflate several things on him," Sirius quipped.

"Well it's not for him to decide how quickly something gets brushed to the side, thank Merlin," James said in clipped tones.

"She couldn't have said that before Dumbledore had to interrupt?" Lily seethed, finding Arthur's advice before about how fair this Bones woman was didn't seem to accurate if she was willing to let Fudge pummel her son until Dumbledore stepped in to say otherwise. James still had his arm tight around her waist and gave her a comforting squeeze, knowing her harsh words shouldn't really be taken full force now as she just wanted to be the one to protect Harry at this trial she should have had a hand in.

"I suppose Dumbledore told her to come comfortably," Sirius amazingly had a twitching smile trying to creep up on him in the face of all this, but he couldn't seem to stay that mad with her back. He was too busy picturing her calling Fudge much worse than a useless rump.

"Least she didn't have to sit on the chained one," Harry huffed, half wishing he'd thought to ask Dumbledore for one of those as well, as the menacing clinking noise hadn't really stopped behind him this whole time.

"That, is a really terrible oversight," Lily suddenly blinked as she realized this for the first time. "Is she living there now? I have no idea honestly, but the fact that we don't keep a record of where Squibs are living- I mean even if they aren't a magical threat I don't see why we wouldn't as they could be in just as much, honestly more danger from-" James cut her off with another squeeze, while she continued shaking her head for this glaring problem no one had ever seemed to realize, or care about.

"Why would he look at them, when she'd be the one to answer?" Harry demanded. Even not having a particular like for Mrs. Figg, he still found that beyond rude, quite a feat considering everything else the Minister had done of late.

"Confirming from a source he doesn't believe is a liar," Remus sighed after he guessed that.

Lily winced for that, fearing Fudge could still throw this testimony out if he did claim this was rehearsed and given to her by Dumbledore.

"She's allowed to be a bit confused," James said sympathetically. "She did see Dudley running, and she's about to account for two things going on at once."

Remus had to fight hard not to release a snort of mirth, but failed and began giggling anyways along with both his friends to his rising pleasure. It was the first time he'd seen Sirius actually crack a smile while the mention of dementors had been brought up in here, so he knew he'd give Figg a thanks just for that.

"Well she's not wrong," Sirius said fairly even if he could feel that nasty twitching just below the surface of his panic again at the thought of feeling around those things for the next twelve years loomed over him again.

Sirius gave Harry a mock pat on the head, ignoring the fact his hand was shaking too hard for the gesture to come through right.

"Well I'm so glad at least someone's enjoying the show," Lily said icily, wishing for more descriptions so she'd know who next to curse at work.

"At least she got that part right," Remus said in relief as he tried to keep going with more confidence now the woman had established some credibility in this.

Lily pinched James to stop him making some dumb comment about how she could have gotten the boys swapped.

Sirius was thankful he didn't have anyone in his immediate vicinity to stop him giving a polite little clap for that thrilling tale, so Lily compensated by chucking a pillow at him, not even trying to deny that she always did feel slightly better watching these two idiots make light of this as clearly it was giving Harry a distraction and he didn't look quite so pale while watching them.

"Really do just love her for this," Remus agreed.

"No one was trying to deny the possibilities," Lily agreed grimly.

"What was that?" Harry asked sharply, not exactly wanting to turn his full attention back to Fudge doing this to him, but that had done it.

"Someone twitched," Sirius tried to pacify Harry's sudden intensity by giving a very obvious leg spasm that accidentally hit Remus, and Harry lost track of his thread as Remus gave him an absent nudge back while still going.

"Including everything you don't ask them to," James said stiffly, he still hadn't forgotten the ones that had nearly gone after Harry, and to a lesser but more effective degree had done to Barty Crouch Jr., and no consequences had ever seemed to come from that.

Harry could feel himself starting to shake slightly, the now familiar pain of a memory ready to pounce leaving him sure this was no fallback excuse. Dumbledore had been wrong before, but was right now, but who on earth-

He was distracted by the flash of red hair from his mother shaking her head in disbelief, along with the boys rolling their eyes at Dumbledore's time for a joke. Clearly they at least had faith the Ministry would never fall that far, so he was probably misinterpreting something in him.

"You truly have the loveliest descriptions of people," Lily rolled her eyes, wanting to scold him absolutely none of that had been polite, but as it was his private thoughts she resisted since she knew her son had better manners than saying that to a woman's face.

Sirius couldn't resist anymore and snorted with laughter, all of the boys giggling childishly at Harry's thoughts now.

Harry was swaying just slightly as memory of this woman tried to crowd him in on all sides at once. Her appearance, her words, her very attitude screaming at him right now to get a spit ready to roast her alive, but a hard shake from his head managed to clear the worst of it while Sirius gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, all of them worried Harry was fixing to pass out from stress for this still hanging over his head.

"This woman isn't leaving a very good first impression," James felt some of his amusement at Harry's description of her dying as clearly his son was getting a bad vibe from this woman, and that automatically put her in his bad books.

"He is literally contradicting himself," Remus sighed as he never thought he'd meet someone so stupid to not take even the smallest out Dumbledore was trying to offer. He was going small, trying to give the man just a pinch of room in saying there could have been just a few rogues, but no, the man couldn't do anything that wasn't idiotic it seemed.

"I feel like at some point it should be," Sirius snarled, as Dumbledore being Minister would solve at least a few problems at this point, Sirius' status included.

"Clearly not, as the existence of this  _ trial  _ proves you need a look back!" Lily hissed.

"No one gives a damn about what you want!" Sirius barked.

"He's not even being subtle about showing how badly he created this just to do the worst he can to Harry," Remus agreed viciously.

Sirius let a bark of laughter escape him, and to his absolute pleasure saw the others get a bleak smile as well for Dumbledore's choice of words whether intentionally or not.

"I don't think I can have a miscarriage of anything," Sirius said as he glanced down in confusion at his stomach.

"You just ruined whatever amount of funny that once was Padfoot," Remus told him conversationally without looking up.

Sirius couldn't resist and began ticking on his fingers, "Dobby, then Marge, now this. Not counting what Arthur did while there, that's actually only three. I know of at least one Muggle-born who got at least as many," he finished with fluttering eyes at Lily who only grinned indulgently in response as she didn't bother to deny it.

Harry was still intrigued enough to hear about this, far more than his life in his opinion, but Remus was still too invested in finding out if Dumbledore could really win this thing as it was looking like he was doing and so didn't give Lily the chance to say anything, for now.

"It's not my fault these things happen to me!" Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Apparently you're going to be hard pressed to get others to believe that," James sighed with true pity. In all honesty, if he hadn't sat here and heard the accounts himself, he'd think Harry was pulling his leg with some of these stories.

"He keeps going on about how he's too busy to be dealing with this," Lily sneered. "I can't wait for someone to point out how he created this problem by setting up this whole courtroom to be there for this, wasting everyone's time!"

"You do have to love the irony of it all though." Sirius sighed. "He overlooked that instance, and now he's trying to get Harry expelled for something of honestly lesser reason."

Harry gave a bleak, obligatory laugh no one felt.

"Which in no regards is held in the Ministry's decision," Lily cut in with blistering tones, making Remus shrink back into his seat slightly and her anger wasn't even directed at him. He'd never had a problem chatting with Lily about politics, but he was starting to be very afraid for this book if it kept pushing her buttons on this topic.

Harry felt a nasty tingling at the base of his spine at that.

"I really think at some point the politeness is just another level of smugness," James shook his head.

"Least Dumbledore did what he did no matter what attitude he used," Lily sighed.

Lily made an agitated noise that still managed to sound triumphant, finally someone other than her had said it.

"Oh please stop giving him ideas," Harry muttered.

"I disagree," Remus frowned, "this is honestly a good thing him being quick about this. Let Fudge keep going much longer and he'll start trying to bring up things you don't have anything to do with but he'll still try to blame you for."

Harry gave an uneasy nod as he tried to believe Remus was right and it was high time he got his answer for this no matter how much he felt like vomiting in the meantime.

They all got a little frown on their face for that. Was Dumbledore really so busy watching Fudge he couldn't spare a moment to glance at the boy he was defending?

"You really couldn't have even if you came in wearing a Support Fudge badge," Sirius sighed.

"True Dumbledore and Figg got your side out for you, but that's probably a good thing," James said fairly. "It's been made obvious nothing you say will get through to them, at least Dumbledore still holds some weight with his reputation you just don't have son."

Harry wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but as he'd always prefered action rather than letting others do this sort of thing for him, he doubted he'd ever fully agree.

They all flinched as hard as Sirius at remembering that nearly happening to their Harry, again!

"I found that a good idea when faced with McGonagall," Remus winced, "I imagine this is significantly worse."

Finally they all felt a breath of relief pass through them again. This had been dragged on far to long, they couldn't believe this had been a real threat on Harry and he'd barely escaped by the skin of his teeth!

"I need names," Sirius said flatly, and Harry now had the absolute certainty Sirius was not joking, and was almost thankful he couldn't be of help with that.

"Hey!" They all yelped in protest.

"What's Dumbledore playing at?" Sirius demanded as he snatched the book from Remus.

"I know this wasn't a time to be sitting around congratulating each other," Lily agreed, "but would it really kill the man to at least escort Harry outside and say, anything!"

Harry sunk back into his seat heavily, his temporary moment of thrill and excitement he was free to go back to school at once dimmed by what he considered a very bad omen for the rest of this to come.

  
  



	9. THE WOES OF MRS. WEASLEY

 

To Guest, who asked what Lily's job is. Lily is currently employed just under the Wizengamot in the 'records' type area where she's learning the laws she's going to hope to one day help make. Sorry I'm not particularly a politician, or know much about the wizarding politicians to give a more accurate answer of a title. Just the idea I have for her.

To Karelle: Don't worry, you did excellent, thanks so much for the review! I'd be happy to send along the extra works I have, but be sure to space out your email so fanfiction can read them. For example mine would be coming from amcmermaid at gmail

HPHPHPHPHP

Lily had to demand the book from Sirius as he was still scrutinizing Dumbledore's departure like that, and he handed it over reluctantly. Before she could get started he said, "can we please take a break, just a quick thirty minutes to do something other than this mess. I really don't want to get started with something all over again already." Harry looked just as exhausted as him and eagerly agreed, and the moment everyone agreed he at once demanded of his Godfather if he could hear some more fun stories of the Marauder's pranks at school. Sirius easily roped James into that conversation and Remus would never resist breaking in as well. Lily watched them peacefully go through several stories, her favorites usually the ones on each other, but the longer they kept going the harder it was to keep leaving one person out. They'd spent seven years as a foursome after all, and it was getting more obvious by the moment they couldn't blot him out of all their adventures.

Still it had been worth it when finally all of their laughter subsided and they all looked almost normal and peaceful again while Lily got herself started.

Harry was all the more happy for the little break he'd just had, it gave him some distance so he wasn't as hurt by that as he was at the time, and he did feel a bit better when he watched those around him either frown or scowl at this rather rude dismissal. Sure it wouldn't do for Dumbledore to show favoritism to Harry in that moment, but even a quick word goodby would have been better than nothing.

Harry felt that nasty, prickling feeling returning at once at her mentioning, and he wished he understood why. Surely she had nothing to do with his life.

"Escape while you can before they throw something else at you," Remus sighed in agreement.

Remus tried for a more open expression in regards to saying, "well if he didn't even say anything to Arthur than I'm positive it really was a matter of something else other than this place he had to attend to."

"Yeah, I guess," Harry agreed, feeling only the smallest margin better it hadn't just been him who'd been dismissed like that.

"Honestly that's for the best, he can't have gone anywhere pleasant from there," James shook his head fondly, regretting not having done something similar to his son when he seemed so pleased at Arthur's reaction, but now it would just look silly when the moment had passed.

"Can't wait for him to pass that along," Lily huffed, "I'm hoping it'll drop Fudge's credibility even more."

"Are you going to keep referring to her like that?" Sirius snickered, honestly amused at what he considered a running insult from Harry after he'd gotten her name.

"Yes," Harry said back flatly, causing his smirk to disappear at once as they all scrutinized Harry's look. What had this woman done to him to cause such bad feelings when she hadn't actually done a thing yet? He was acting more hostile towards her than Fudge.

Lily winced at even the idea of having to read out such a harsh reaction she expected a parent to have around their own child, yet Arthur utterly deserved whatever was said to Percy, it still left a bitter taste in her mouth before she even knew what was to be done.

Lily groaned and shook her head miserably, there was no way that could have been good, but did the boys really have to look so hateful while she said it. She supposed it was better than the lashing argument she'd just pictured herself.

"Was honestly hoping you'd go along," Sirius gave a believable smile to that.

"I'm sure I can give you details later when he tells that night," Harry chuckled at the enthusiasm.

"That's usually how it works," Remus smiled in full agreement as the feeling poured back over him he hadn't felt in a few years now but he honestly missed, this must be ten times more powerful to something so strong as what Harry had just gone through.

"Knew it all along," James gave a pompous smile. "Course all you had to do was look at this books length, or Merlin we could have even skipped ahead."

"Oh, now you suggest that," Harry chuckled.

"That always seems to happen during the important conversations," Lily sighed as she'd completely agreed with what Arthur was saying.

Harry extra despised that cold feeling of dread wrapping around him, forcing him to relive a memory he'd already regained just because of the sight of this man. Though he hadn't seen his face, the last time Lucius Malfoy had been in his presence was in that graveyard, groveling to Voldemort-

His recurring nightmare was interrupted by his dad whispering hatefully, "unless he's in handcuffs, I hope Arthur has the sense to keep you away from him."

"Considering the last time his name was mentioned in relation to Fudge, I wouldn't hold your breath mate," Sirius could already feel his lip curling into a sneer.

"I see where the young Malfoy gets his wit from," Remus rolled his eyes at the lame insult.

James could feel himself going for his wand again, now regretting his angry actions this morning just because he wanted to be back beside his son now. It only helped ease his hand away but worsen his mood when Sirius gave Harry a soft nudge and muttered something to him, and he blinked around before smiling at him.

"The fact that you call him mister," Sirius scoffed while trailing more silently in mutters about that.

"Well he'd know all about that," Remus snapped, "glory, I think that was almost a compliment."

"Then I'm all the more insulted," Harry groused.

"I'm sure Arthur needs that just as much to hold himself back," Lily's lip was shaking with anger as she forced herself not to start cursing something. "I still treasure the idea of him hitting that man with a book on toadstools."

"You and me both love," James agreed.

Sirius gave a soft, bitter laugh that he couldn't feel, but Harry deserved someone to admire his humor in the face of that.

"Escorting a friend, not that he'd understand what that meant," Remus muttered, not having missed the fact that the two people who should have been there for Harry were busy hiding out.

"I really didn't think there was a bad way to say that, but Malfoy really managed it," Sirius huffed.

Even as Lily winced in sympathy Harry's face didn't even do that for the remembered feeling, he was too busy glaring at nothing and wishing he could punch Malfoy in his face already.

Harry was distracted from his anger at Malfoy to really ponder that question though, since for some reason he couldn't identify he didn't like the answer given. Why? It wasn't even unrealistic, but something about that corridor and Malfoy was trying to be much louder in his mind than he would allow it.

"Subtle," James snorted in disgust.

"Again, I feel that's more for his benefit than Harry's," Sirius sneered, knowing he'd have to have someone hold him back as well when faced with that man.

**_business_ ** Lily froze, cocked her head to the side, and stated, "that's a really good question."

"I, err, well maybe he was meeting up with some other Death Eater that works at the Ministry," Sirius offered. "Arthur said it himself, that's not a commonly frequented area, and I don't think Malfoy would know when Harry's court date is, so maybe he just got caught being down there and made, something up," he trailed off unhappily, but Harry was watching with wide, eager eyes for him to keep going. Harry was entirely sure Sirius was very close to being onto something, but none of the others looked very convinced as this was very blatant and almost dumb for Malfoy to be trying to do such a thing.

Harry fidgeted with unease, as sure that Mr. Weasley was lying as he was that Sirius was far more on track. The two just would not come together for him to make sense of.

Harry opened and closed his mouth, starting to shake slightly as word vomit threatened to blow his head off as he was confident in that moment Arthur was looking back for an entirely different reason! To check on-

"Whoa Harry," James finally lost his compulsion so that he was sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Harry. "What's gotten into you? The trial's over, you're going back to school, I'm confident Malfoy won't do anything in the meantime."

Harry had to concentrate very hard on the sound of his voice to unscrew his face and take a deep breath before offering a shaky smile at him, and even that wasn't enough to erase the build of unease that left him sitting that much closer to Sirius.

James, finding himself more intruding than anything when he saw that, went back to his spot and tried to pretend like he hadn't seen any such thing.

Lily would have normally been trying to subtly comfort her husband for what had just happened, but she was too busy grinding her teeth in frustration that was all it took to get in with people, money. Apparently morals weren't worth as much!

"Honestly if you hadn't had that moment with him at the end of last year, I'd agree," Remus grumbled. "Sadly, as no one at that time had the chance to Imperius him before he acted the way he is, I think he's just an idiot all on his own."

"Jr. couldn't have done it before he took me to his office," Harry persisted even if he didn't feel anything telling him this was the right line of questioning, he should in fact still be more focused on that door-

"I don't see it, he was too busy watching you, it just didn't seem part of the plan," Lily shook her head. Harry was at least grateful he'd asked then just to make sure that train of thought kept getting cut off.

"How do you even prevent a Minister from falling under that though," he pushed for more, some distant part of him still afraid for this fact.

"The Minister works in very close contact with a lot of people," Remus reminded. "Why do you think Crouch got 'sick' while he was Imperiused, there's just no way to have someone fake it for a long enough period of time it wouldn't get suspicious and someone would look into him, start asking questions. Sorry Harry," he finished truly apologetically, "I guess it would be easier to blame someone else on this problem with magic, but that doesn't usually work."

Harry just sighed but let the matter go.

Sirius snorted lightly as he realized Remus and Dumbledore had essentially said the same thing, but he didn't really want to compre Moony to Dumbledore right now.

"That's true to," James agreed, "you are in enemy territory."

Lily felt the happy giggle slide from her with what felt like the first true ease in this book. Something as whimsical as her son keeping this promise was a treasure to her.

"I'm glad you see the truth in that thing," James happily agreed.

"I honestly think that's why that attempted assassination on Spout-Hole happened," Remus smirked, then catching sight of Harry's bewildered look he explained, "a group of centaurs tried to kill a past Minister, Faris Spavin, and I've no doubts it really had something to do with the timeframe this statue was put up."

Harry didn't have it in him to deny someone deserved a good reality check for thinking up this statue.

Harry felt a nasty tug on the edges of his memory, thinking he was now being ridiculous that Hermione and him at the Ministry at the same time shouldn't cause any bad feelings...

Lily let out a whistle in surprise, as she knew she kept a few galleons on her, but no one could do anything but smile at Harry for this spot of kindness.

Harry in no way regretted his actions of course, but he was thinking hard to himself why that felt so ominous to him, that statue and also that hosptial...

"So I'm guessing you're back at that place." Sirius hadn't been in a particularly good mood while hearing of Harry at the Ministry, but this was honestly only making him feel worse.

As a natural reaction but also hoping it would cheer him up, Remus gave a sarcastic little applause for Sirius' brilliant thinking, while Lily was ignoring them both.

"Well he's not wrong," Remus snickered while Sirius released a bark of laughter for that being true.

"That's right Harry," James nodded in pure agreement, "mock them for trying to comfort you to your face."

"So long as they were silently worrying while you weren't watching," Sirius giggled in agreement.

Sirius didn't even consider denying his spark as he got to his feet, James moving only a step behind him as the two began bouncing around their own room doing the exact same thing. Remus only watched long enough to see the pattern the two quickly took to before joining with a stupid grin in place as well.

Harry was about ready to fall off the couch laughing any second and Lily in no way looked like she was going to be stopping them any time soon. They all, especially James, had been so tense lately that it was good to see him acting like the an idiot goofing off with his friends again. Finally though, she did pick the book back up and kept going over their noise.

Lily read that part just a bit more loudly, hoping they'd take a hint soon even if she couldn't wipe the smile off her face while doing so, but the lot of them ignored her.

"A once in a lifetime experience I'm sure," Harry snickered to himself, his eyes still dancing as he watched the three of them still mimicking his past with amusement.

Lily had said that in such a sharp 'mother' voice, that Sirius stumbled in surprise, Remus tried to catch him, and the end results were all three on the ground still laughing like crazy people. Lily was still going as if this was all perfectly normal background to her reading, which it honestly was.

Harry's good mood could find no reason to dampen in here either, as for what felt like the first time in ages he was confident that house should always feel like that to him. It was so nice to watch the boys untangling themselves and still smirking at their spot of fun and his mother's purely happy smile he almost wanted to ask her to stop just for a moment so it wouldn't end, but he'd sadly already come to the conclusion time stopped for no one, not even someone out of time.

"That's how I love to celebrate," James snickered as he settled back into his seat next to his wife.

"I don't find that childish at all," Sirius pushed his hair out of his face just in time for a frown to reappear there as he thought back to Dumbledore again. "He really was acting off right there, couldn't be bothered to look at you once that whole time. That's most certainly not normal."

Harry wished that nasty tingling sensation would vanish already instead of agreeing with Sirius.

Lily jolted in surprise of reading that, knowing if she hadn't just cut the boys off seconds ago that would have as they all paled for this being mentioned again while Harry's smile flickered before vanishing entirely as he was reminded of that.

Sirius was entirely ready to get up and start the jig up all over again before he realized Harry was trying to sit so close to him again, and decided for now the best course of action was just to remind his pup everything would turn out okay by staying right where he was.

Sirius' frown was starting to make a reappearance as well, feeling like smacking himself upside the head if he really hadn't noticed Harry's moment of pain. What exactly had he been doing not to have seen that?

Remus was thinking the exact same thing, and was honestly even more annoyed with himself he didn't even seem to be in the room. What business had he done that was so important he wouldn't have stuck around the house to hear this news as soon as possible?

"I sure hope he does," James hated watching his two friends suddenly dim right back down into that somber mood this whole book seemed to be leaving on all of them after just a few moments and vented that by saying, "the man needs a few good words said to him by both Harry and Sirius now."

"Here's hoping," Lily agreed quietly.

"Did she expect you to eat all that?" Sirius did a very good attempt at putting up a smile back in place.

Harry helped nothing by not answering, still seeming distracted by running his hand over his scar which seemed to be bothering him more this year than any before.

"Kreacher ruins everybody's good mood," Sirius agreed solemnly.

"Oh," Lily uttered by the end as they all looked like they'd been hit in the gut. "Oh Sirius," Lily tried to start, not even sure herself what was going to come out, but Sirius snapped back at once with his eyes flat black.

"Don't you even Evans-"

"Potter," James corrected on instinct, though he too looked ready to say something, Sirius continued even louder-

"Potter then, the both of you." He sat there struggling for a moment to put into words that he didn't want to hear their sympathies on his sad state of a future if he even for a moment was acting like that towards Harry, but at the same time the words just wouldn't come as he could all to easily picture it. The only thing that had gotten him through his summers there were waiting on the letters from his friends, and he no longer even had that in that miserable place. Now he was looking at even more of that away from Harry, and even Remus it seemed as he'd been mentioned there all of three times instead of up Sirius' butt like he'd have hoped his friend would be to keep his mind off where he was.

He was almost grateful he didn't have the chance to say any of that as Remus cut in with an almost gentle scolding, "haven't we been over this. There's no point tearing into him when he isn't treating Harry that way now, he's never going there, so this won't ever happen."

Lily still felt like she should say something to him, either a promise she didn't blame him even if he was secretly wanting that or to offer up some suggestions of how to make this even a bit better, but Sirius was clearly relieved at avoiding this all together so she kept going in hopes the whole topic would pass quickly and they could just be with Harry in school again where hopefully nothing too eventful would happen.

James didn't entirely agree, he was a bit convinced there was something else going on with his best mate entirely and so avoiding Harry was just a byproduct of that, but he supposed his Sirius wouldn't know what anyways and kept his mouth shut, for now.

"Hey!" James snapped at once, his eyes flashing with such protection Harry was suddenly grateful his wish had never come true and Hermione wasn't here with them, she'd be getting an ear full from his dad.

He couldn't even think up a defense for her, he'd have liked to snap at her right now as well for speaking of his godfather like that while he was talking about his problems, a little sympathy wouldn't have hurt for as much as she showed towards Kreature.

Remus was flushed in anger as well, he was almost glad of his absence now as he liked to think if he had been present for that he'd have snapped at Hermione for speaking about Sirius like that. He was many things, yes even selfish at times, but not for such an important matter as Harry continuing going to school.

Lily's lip seemed to be curling a bit in that sneer she so often got when speaking about Snape lately. Hermione had always been a vivacious child when she was speaking of what she thought, but while Lily encouraged and even admired that about her, now she was turning what she thought were her ideas on her friend, and she did not read this bit lightly.

Sirius blinked sourly at the stupid book, still wishing more than anything he could find something in him to deny that claim...and coming up empty.

"Being around the Order all the time holds nothing to being around family," James hissed under his breath. His most daunting missions he'd ever taken were the extended ones away from his own, even when he did have a partner. That person, while a mutual friend, still couldn't replace who he really wanted to see.

"It only would have made you feel like the answer was inevitable," Sirius told Harry quietly, who nodded in agreement, he hadn't really held that against Sirius. He'd never thought Sirius would turn him down, but it was nice to still get a reason.

"Not my choice of words," Lily huffed, "more like pompously."

"She'll be the next Percy if she keeps telling people how they should be feeling," Remus agreed, thinking back to how she'd been acting in third year as well.

Harry hadn't felt this angry at Hermione since she'd gotten his firebolt taken away, and this was so much worse than that. Sirius was on the run for the murder of his brother because of a long standing friend who'd left him framed and for dead, while Harry was about to be kicked out of school! They weren't comparable problems, and Sirius would never think to insinuate otherwise!

Sirius felt like he'd been slapped. He certainly felt the hot burn rushing his throat and threatening to overflow onto his face through his eyes as he found that was proof of what Molly had said earlier. If even Hermione had caught him doing or saying something-

"That arrogant little shit!" James howled, looking as angry as when Sirius had been sent off to Azkaban without a trial. "He's been living in hell for how many years now, and she goes turning any sign of him wanting to reminisce to Harry about me into him being a loon! For God's sake, he's done nothing but try to do everything for Harry since he got out, has everyone just forgotten that!"

"Prongs." The soft little voice was the only thing that could have cut him off, and James had to work hard to focus on him through blurry red vision to see such a resigned expression.

He wasn't having that as he hissed back, "I'm getting sick and tired of hearing people talk about you like this, when none of them can claim to know you worth a damn. Why am I the only one getting hacked off about this?" He finished more towards Remus than anyone.

"You're not," he said at once in short, clipped sentences to keep his own anger held in, "but you were doing such a good job vocalizing I'd be remiss to cut you off or even add in."

"Stop, please," Sirius cut in with more force before any return could be made. He faltered a bit, knowing he'd catch hell in here if he told them the real reason he couldn't work up the steam over this was because he honestly feared how true it was, so instead he put out, "I just, can't get worked up over thinking of myself in any sense in that future, so I'd rather, you know, not think about it anymore than I can." He finished in a tiny voice, clearly not doing as good a job as he'd intended in keeping his real thoughts out of his tones as James face suddenly flipped to concern, but Lily seemed to understand best of all as she seemed to be respecting his wishes and wouldn't let anyone say another word as she kept going.

Remus had to work very hard not to spit out, 'so that's a sign of insanity now?!' When in all honesty that was the most true thing Hermione had ever said, and no one, clearly not him, seemed to be going out of their way to help Sirius anymore than keeping him at arms distance from the one person who could have made that more bearable.

"That's gratitude for you," Sirius muttered just for something new to say and still not looking at anyone.

Lily gave a hollow laugh as the phrase, 'be careful what you wish for,' flitted across her mind.

Lily had to work very hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice Hermione so easily flipped subjects like that. As if talking about Sirius were inconsequential and instead she could make them hear more about her views. Those boys clearly cared nothing for her thinking on this, and this one just never seemed to take a hint. They were all in such a bad mood, none of them even had the fun to point out Hermione had just referred to her own organization by Ron's stupid name.

"More like she'd have to pay them to be doing any such thing," Sirius sighed as he still couldn't find a smile in himself to put up. It wasn't helping no one, not even Harry, was helping by playing along.

Sirius gave an obnoxiously loud laugh for himself just having mimicked Ron, at least making Remus roll his eyes again, something Sirius was confident he'd never grow tired of.

Harry had some sad little frown on his face he didn't seem aware of at the mention of that,

and no one noticed him wince slightly as without fail, the other boys managed some small enthusiasm for that word alone.

Sirius wished a Bludger would come knock him stupid already just so he didn't have to see Harry look shameful at that!

James ran his hand furiously through his hair as he realized what Hermione had said clearly wasn't going to come back up so he could keep going, and he wasn't even sure if he could have anyways after his brothers pitiful little attempts to deflect him from it. That didn't make his simmering anger feel any better, but he managed a mask that at least resembled his joking tone as he told Harry, "nothing ever is."

Harry had to push through his mind to force himself back into this conversation before he simply responded, "Quidditch," and was thankful a second mentioning of it only left another dull sadness in him he didn't have to examine.

"Okay, most things," he conceded.

Harry gave an exaggerated groan and a playful nudge to his godfather that went completely ignored.

"Oh wow," Lily blinked in surprise and almost relief at this new topic. "I thought that was just glossed over like last year, hadn't realized you hadn't even gotten them yet."

"What are they playing at sending that the day before school starts," Remus agreed in surprise. "Can you imagine how packed Flourish and Blotts is going to be, everyone trying to get that last book for their Defense class. At least the others the parents could have gotten already."

"You do bring up the fun question of who it's going to be this year," Sirius was really trying to put some enthusiasm into chatting about this, but Harry very clearly did not agree as he pleaded his mother to cut him off and go on, they'd get their answer soon enough, and he already had a bad feeling about it.

"One of the few good features in that house," Sirius chuckled, "my favorite part being, it spits whatever you threw in there right back up a few minutes later. Great for saying you cleaned your room so you can scarper and then blame the mess on someone later."

"I can't imagine how someone would find a use for that," Lily told him deadpan.

"That sounds extraordinarily boring," Sirius snorted, forcing himself to get into this now despite Harry's lack of enthusiasm over this. "Are you sure you can't come back Moony? At least you wouldn't be caught dead assigning anything that has such a title you'd use it for a pillow."

Remus gave an exaggerated eye roll for what he felt was a stupid question, while James sighed and forced himself to add in as well even if he'd prefer to hold onto his anger some more. "You know, it never even mentioned what book you did assign," with a curious look at Harry.

"We only ever studied out of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," Harry shrugged, "he didn't assign any other specific books. I was grateful, as the only other thing I'd used it for before then was just to look up some creature I heard an older student mention and I didn't know." He finished himself off with a curious look though before adding on, "how come that's a first year book anyways? Care of Magical Creatures isn't even mandatory."

"It's intended for individual studies," Lily told, "so that you have a basic understanding of magical creatures on hand even if you don't take the class. By making it part of your first school list, someone likes to think that you've cracked it open at some point."

Harry gave a sheepish smile for that, as the only real time he'd ever done much of anything with that book was a few things for Professor Lupin out of it. He'd managed to accidentally rip out a few chapters at some point he'd never bothered reparing, like his section on boggarts for instance, and at the end of his fourth year him and Ron had skimmed through the whole thing by themselves on one of their off periods in one of their silent 'don't want to talk right now' agreements on Harry's part.*

Sirius really did laugh that time, though he'd yet to fail when mention of them making an appearance so he was at least happy for that consistency.

"Did it really take them the day before term to pull that together?" Lily asked with honest concern.

"I knew it must be getting harder all the time to get someone in, but this is just getting sad," James agreed with a very pointed look someone was very pointedly ignoring.

"Sacked?" Remus repeated with a snicker. "Really, that's all the reference I get?"

"Besides, he technically quit," Sirius reminded, giving him the stank eye for the reminder as he finished, "with protest."

Remus ignored the jab.

"Deserved it," Lily muttered bitterly.

"Still my favorite," Remus savoured.

James shuddered all over again in renewed horror of that.

"You'd think the job was cursed or something, oh wait," Sirius smirked.

"I wonder what happened to the twins teachers before those came along," Remus puzzled.

"Guess something far more boring," James shrugged.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" Remus asked too enthusiastically, anything to get back off that job he honestly wished he'd never taken, it's not like he'd done much good at it that no other competent person could have.

"You said perfect, right?" James was staring at her oddly. "What's perfect?"

"You heard exactly what she said Prongs," Sirius corrected, his eyes growing steadily wider as the shock sunk in. "Prefect! Oh wow, go Ron!"

Remus was snickering lightly while Lily was shaking her head fondly at these boys, thinking this was most likely similar to how they'd reacted upon Remus' Prefect status as well. A little humor, some congratulations and then trying to move on by looking at her like, 'get on with it.' Clearly they didn't put much of a big deal into the matter, which made sense considering how often they went through their life ignoring any and all resemblance of authority.

"Now that was just hurtful," Lily couldn't stop her twitching lips as she tried to read in Fred's mocking tone, perhaps not doing it as well as the boys, but still almost hitting that playful way she imagined them using.

"Harry would never do such a thing!" James gasped in mock outrage. "He's going to be far too busy avoiding Ron the rest of the year to join him!"

"You were a Headboy though," Harry suddenly blinked as he realized this. "Do you not need to be a Prefect to get that?"

"Nah," Sirius rolled his eyes, "I honestly have no idea how they pick them, I feel like they just pull a random name out of the Sorting Hat, it makes more sense than going with any 'qualifications,' which neither of them had to be holding any such title."

"Thank you Padfoot," Remus snorted.

"I must applaud them on seeing this in the proper lighting, someone I know never did see it that same way," Sirius said tragically while Remus hadn't stopped laughing this whole time for how much of a flashback he was getting to his friends ribbing on him through the whole, very long, train ride when he'd told them. It had been almost a relief to attend his Prefect duties first, at least they'd had enough time to let them laugh it off with each other so by the time he came back they'd almost been ready to ignore the whole instance.

Some of Lily's humor did fade at that, while the boys just laughed harder, though a bit harsher in remembrance of Molly especially so fresh after Hermione's potshots. She however was thinking the twins could show just a bit more of both praising and picking on their brother at once, hadn't they learned after they'd dealt with Percy sometimes words could hurt after all those years. They were making the same mistake with their younger brother as they had been with their elder one in treating him like this just because he'd gotten an accomplishment he'd had no real control over. They didn't necessarily have to approve of it, but couldn't they at least not take the mickey out of him for it.

"Which he wore for the next two years straight as well," Harry muttered in remembered disgust, managing to ignore the old conundrum he'd always had at school of having twenty-two Prefects at once running around, plus the Head Boy and Girl, not to mention all the teachers always seeming to keep an eye on all things. It really did boggle his mind how the Marauders got away with anything like that, though it must have helped in fact to have a man on the inside.

"Wow, both of his friends got it!" James tone came out much harsher now as he was still waiting for an apology from her as well as Molly to Sirius' face. "I'm thinking she'll do worse than Ron, she'll be too busy with all her studies to deal with Prefect duties. Least he'll enjoy the attention it gets him from some of the younger students."

"So long as he doesn't let it go to his head," Sirius said a little uneasily, still remembering last year and how Ron got because he thought he wasn't recognized enough. Now the opposite problem could occur.

"That timing though," Remus muttered at how awkward this could get.

"Ouch," Sirius winced hard for that one. "Yes he's sure woman, the schools never sent someone the wrong envelope before." He got out quickly before anyone could make a more snide comment about her.

"Wow, she came skipping in when she thought it was Harry's but now it's Ron's and she's actually at a loss for words, for once," James huffed.

"Saved by the Mum," Sirius looked a bit relieved, that couldn't have been going any more awkwardly.

"Why does she bother asking? I thought she always gave him maroon just to color coordinate her kids by this point," James snarked, clearly his mood getting worse now that both people of his ire were in the same room, and hardly even reacting when Lily pinched him to get him to stop.

James gave Lily a pointed look which she ignored.

Sirius got a happy snort of laughter for that sentence existence, after all pyjamas were a very fascinating conversation topic.

"He is as of five seconds ago," Lily giggled.

"Hey!" All three Marauders yelped indignantly on behalf of the twins, Sirius persisting the point, "what happened to the other two that are in the room?"

Lily nibbled on her lip for a moment before continuing, feeling just as bad for the twins as she would have if Ron hadn't gotten this reaction. Ginny hadn't even made the status yet, so she really wasn't sure if that was the right thing for Molly to say there.

James wanted to ask if that meant even Charlie had been one, but he honestly wasn't sure if this should be counted as Molly had just brushed aside two of her kids, she might have done it for three in that moment.

"Wow," James rubbed at his shoulder with his own hurt filled eyes. "I'm not even a Weasley and that hurt my soul."

"You'd be just as snarky if she tried to play it off and not single out one of her children for doing something so good," Lily sighed, hating having to deal with her husband when he was in his petty moods, which seemed to be happening more often than not of late.

"He'll be lucky if they don't do far worse to him," Remus muttered, knowing the twins, like his friends, might just take this as a new challenge to prank their little brother and see how well they could get away with it. They'd yet to clearly be doing things to Ron at school, but he wouldn't put it past them for this to be a start.

"That woman has no shame, the boys in front of his friends," James grumbled.

"Howler," Lily reminded, clearly Molly held absolutely nothing of the world outside her circle.

Lily crooned, just a bit, as she truly did see the value in doing this for her kids that had done such an accomplishment. It certainly made sense, even if she truly felt for the twins as one of them would have always been left out of this tradition. There really was just no winning with this.

"It was part of Harry's doing, so I forgive their moment of kindness." James rolled his eyes.

"You know, I just realized, Ron and Hermione weren't there when you did that," Sirius pointed out just to change the subject. "Did you ever tell them what you did for the twins?"

"No," Harry shrugged, the thought had never crossed his mind. "I suppose they just told Ron they did it so they wouldn't have the humiliation of seeing him in them again. They were so awful Ron just believed them on the spot."

Lily winced hard at getting out the name of that old thing which effectively managed to turn every person in here into a gargoyle like face.

"Go big or go home," Remus winced as he easily saw both sides to what both parties were feeling in that moment.

They were all surprised she'd so easily agreed to this, but then the boys were suddenly bouncing in place with pleasure as they were begging Lily to get to the part where they hoped to find what exact model Molly would get!

Lily was giggling herself by the end of that, looking lovingly at her son for a moment and knowing she'd be just as bad if he had been made one. She did a double take in surprise as she saw how, off his face looked, like he was really thinking about something, but she supposed it may still be mention of that rat like the lingering darkness in the boys still showed so she didn't press him.

"That I would like to see," James snickered.

"No, no," Sirius corrected at once, a look of intrigue now dominant. "That is what I want to see! Hermione tried it last year, now I really want to know who would win, the twins or Ron. With Harry as backup of course," he finished with a smirk at his godson who did not show a hint of listening.

"My money's on Harry and Ron," Remus kept going, clearly not noticing the same thing. "The twins owe Harry big, if he asks them to take a dive and fall into detention, they just might for him."

"I don't think it'll ever come to that," James rolled his eyes. "I can't think of a moment where Ron cares enough to go at them that hard, he's hardly a ruler himself when it comes to school boundries."

"I feel like that's more her part than his," James sniffed, there she went again, speaking for everyone.

"They're off to a great start," Remus snorted.

"I don't think jealous is the right word," James grinned, "but I'd think something was entirely wrong with them if they didn't have some fun with Ron about this. Then again, I'd think Hermione wasn't acting like herself if she didn't say what others are thinking as well," he finished with a huff.

"Am I the only one remembering Bill?" Lily chuckled, thinking he hadn't sounded one bit like a prat.

"Not a bad model at all to chose from," Sirius snapped away from watching Harry curiously, who hadn't pipped up in ages now, and still wasn't showing much interest in this, which meant he must really be thinking of something in his head.

"You think he'll put it to any good use?" James said wistfully as he remembered a large portion of his agitation last year. "There's a spot open on the Quidditch team with Wood gone, and assuming Anglina or one of the other Chasers might have graduated, that could mean some new potential on the field."

Harry did blink a bit at this news and looked around curiously to find them still talking about Ron just getting the broom, so he smiled happily and forced himself to engage in his own hopes that this would happen with a distant smile the whole time before Lily cut off the Quidditch talk for her own sanity.

"Least I'm not the only one holding a grudge," James grumbled to himself, half wishing Harry had said more to his friend in defense of his godfather earlier, but he'd long accepted Harry was not the confrontational type much.

"Oh," they all muttered, looking to him in surprise and quickly away again as Harry's eyes widened with panic, realizing what he'd just been thinking about all this, and how that most likely was fixing to end up in this stupid book!

Sirius opened his mouth to repeat his joke, but in fact performed a small miracle by instead taking James small little head shake as warning and closing it again.

"A daunting enough fear, you're forgiven," Remus muttered under his breath, as they all now realized they were hearing exactly what Harry had just been thinking without having shared. No one had really missed how silent and speculative he'd just gotten, but they'd left him alone with his head for a moment since it clearly had nothing to do with poking at his memories. Now, well this just felt a bit invasive as shame began burning up his face. They were all starting to feel more than just pity for him, it really couldn't be fun for him not to have had a single private moment while he was here.

Lily suddenly stopped altogether and began running her thumb down the length of the page, and the moment Harry realized what she was doing, he took a deep breath and told her, "don't bother skipping, I guess you lot may as well hear it."

"We don't have to," James said at once to no one disagreeing. "Honestly, it doesn't even occur to me half the time, but really Harry, you can tell us to shut it at any time for hearing every single thing you think."

He took a deep breath, but looking more accepting than defeated now, insisted, "you've heard far worse than my being jealous for a moment by now, may as well get through it."

Lily waited a moment longer to realize he truly meant it, before going on.

James went to say something, but Lily gave him a small kick to get him to stop, she was trying to get through this as fast as she could. Up to this point the books, while centered around him, hadn't exactly delved into his head quite as much as this moment, and she was at least going to try and stop her boys commenting on his private thoughts no matter her opinion on them.

Sirius didn't take the hint as he rolled his eyes and said, "not even close. Thinking you should have gotten something doesn't automatically make you a self-entitled little berk. It's how you act when you get it. You aren't going to treat Ron any differently now that he has it, so you're fine pup," he finished with utter confidence, at least making Harry smile again.

"The fact that you refer to those as adventures, rather than life or death moments that you really shouldn't have been in except for extraordinary circumstances, really gets me in this moment," Lily muttered.

"Thank you for detailing all of that," Remus shivered, though they all had at some particular moment Harry had brought up.

Lily had to fight her own insistence now not to say anything in comfort for her son. He was having a human moment after all, but she restrained herself from pointing out again badges weren't chosen because of things you'd done. Honestly no students had a clear idea who was chosen and why, it was simply the Headmaster's decision, and he really could be picking at random or for any arbitrary reason.

"I really love the way you worded that though," James gave a bit of a laugh.

"That was a bit harsh," Sirius gave Harry a sympathetic pat he still didn't really feel like he deserved. "I'll bet a ton of other kids are having far worse reactions than just a bit of jealousy for their friends getting something. Imagine how Malfoy's going to act when he didn't get one and Ron did," he finished triumphantly. That did make Harry laugh again, albeit a bit more held back than he understood why.

"The thought never even crossed our mind," James rolled his eyes, causing Harry to flush anew as he realized just how well those around him seemed to know him in these few short days, and it didn't really seem it was just because of a bunch of books.

"Well geez, clearly he didn't want to be congratulated," Remus frowned in surprise.

"Everyone thought it would be Harry, even Harry," Sirius mocked, pleased Harry stuck his tongue out at him for the picking like normal again.

"He's acting better than I was," Remus smirked in remembrance, "I hid it in with my knickers until we were all on the train and it was moving before I managed to spit out the words. Which I regretted, since it only then occurred to me they could pitch me out of a moving train."

"The thought occurred to me," Sirius agreed, "but only because you actually dropped a pair of those on my head while getting the badge out to show us."

"I wonder if we'll get a return on the badge pranks," James said curiously.

"I'm having trouble picturing it," Remus shrugged. "Despite their jokes already, I can't see them having at Ron every opportunity like they had Percy, mostly because I don't see him dogging the twins to deserve it."

"I wish I could be following the twins around," Sirius sighed wistfully.

"A proper response," James giggled in agreement.

"That is so sad," Lily murmured to herself, really thinking back to how she'd acted towards Sirius now, and seeing the strained mother protecting her family as opposed to this side where she saw Sirius as her family and Molly the threat. It was hard to keep both perspectives in line at once, but she tried her best to shake off the last of her ill will towards the woman, even if she did maintain Sirius hadn't deserved what was thrown at him.

"I'd actually like to watch that," Remus said eagerly like he'd just been invited to his own show. "See what Moody's Boggart would be before he dispelled it."

Harry agreed, honestly hoping that was exactly what had happened. Why would he be getting such a bad feeling from such a silly little thing like a boggart, those hadn't frightened him in ages.

"Really? I wouldn't have thought he'd notice," James rolled his eyes.

"Glad we can be of some help, even if it is just to protect you from scary Alastor," Sirius fixed a smile in place, Harry really starting to feel bad both continued to twitch uneasily whenever they were mentioned.

"Well he's not wrong," Remus blinked in surprise at such advice while James and Sirius got a chuckle out of that.

"Why?" Lily balked at the idea.

"Suppose they ran into him for any number of reasons, and I can guess Arthur was just too polite to not invite him," James shrugged.

"Because that's not suspicious at all," Sirius said with chipper.

"The fact that she asked for a reason really makes me question her sanity," Remus smirked.

"I remember asking McGonagall who possessed her to make Remus one," James reminded, "she just told me to move along."

"What house was she in?" Sirius suddenly demanded curiously, thinking it would be interesting if she'd been yet another Slytherin.

"Hufflepuff," Harry informed, she'd mentioned Sprout as her head of house to Hermione at some previous time.

Sirius smiled all the wider his little cousin had broken even more traditions instead.

Causing everyone to burst out laughing.

James scoffed heavily, even more annoyed than usual at Hermione's inability to laugh at anything, even a harmless joke!

Sirius pretended to faint at the very thought.

"Good boy?" Remus asked of him, poking him slightly as he was still theatrically slumped over. "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said about me."

"Wasn't saying it to your face, but to others, and you know I always covered for you," he told while still miming unconsciousness, causing the others to just laugh harder.

"If that's what he was going for, he began with a lost cause," Remus said in surprise, as the idea had yet to even occur to him that's what it had been for.

"Wonder what made you think that," James agreed, "we all thought it was Dumbledore's subtle way of rewarding our winning personalities and keeping the school's spirits up."

"You lot and your fat heads," Lily muttered.

"Best hope neither of them pass along my Head Boy badge then," James muttered for Lily alone, who agreed.

"Honestly, his mother's lucky he was just talking about it rather than trying to be on it in the house," Sirius chuckled.

"I'd rather go back to hearing about the broom," Remus muttered, everyone else looking just as disappointed except Lily, who hushed them so she could see a conversation she'd actually been looking forward to. If anyone could get through to Hermione how she was acting regarding house-elves, she'd put money on Remus.

"That's all we get," Lily pouted as she saw the next line changed topics.

"I wasn't really listening to them," Harry said apologetically.

"Boys," Lily muttered.

"Now we're tuning into the important conversations," Sirius' grin turned eager to hear about this.

"That's an excellent term for that," James brightened, before turning a calculating look onto his friend and saying, "hey Moony-"

"Don't even start you," he shot back without looking over, so James put a pin in the idea for later.

None of them considered themselves Herbology experts, the closest one was Lily who could recognize a wide variety of plants for her potions, but they were all curious to hear what the twins had gotten their hands on now.

"What on earth would they need those for?" Lily yipped in concern, thinking they could get themselves killed by just one little accident.

"Well they'll certainly get sick enough by them," James said uneasily, hoping for more details as well.

"Now I know he's been off his rocker," James shook his head in disbelief at that one.

"Really should count our blessings he isn't around more I guess," Sirius chuckled.

Lily had already tried to instill into her son how unlikely she found that, and while Harry was looking anxious again at the returning topic, he'd yet to really start working himself up over it so they let him be on this one for now.

"I don't think you were too enamored with Hermione's house-elf topic if you're already hanging around someone else," Sirius said, easily slipping into another topic to take that look off of Harry.

"He always thinks Dumbledore has his reasons," Lily muttered to herself.

"Or it could have done worse, and made Dumbledore really seem he was playing favoritism with Harry," Sirius shook his head. "Nah, best to not let you have this one honestly."

"Not like I ever really wanted it," Harry shrugged in agreement, the idea had never crossed his mind until it was gone.

"If they didn't want you hearing," James rolled his eyes at this idea, "they wouldn't have had the conversation with you in the room."

Both Lily and James were leaning into each other just that little bit closer than was strictly necessary, just for that moment to remind each other they were here now instead of a constant source of some painful memory for Harry. The cheer of knowing that little bit more about his father had been tarnished by his now fear of what the woman he looked to as a mother could think about him. There was just no winning.

"Why did she only say goodnight to you," Sirius quickly pointed out just to give Harry some moment of singularity in Molly's eyes which he had clearly been wanting a moment ago, but now he looked all the more distracted and distant as he was clearly trying to ignore some bad feeling.

"Well this should be interesting," Remus said, Moody singling Harry out could be, fun...

"Wow, don't think we've had this picture taken yet," Sirius blinked in surprise.

"I'm surprised Moody has such a thing, you'd think it would be considered a security risk," Lily agreed. "Even we're not entirely sure who everyone in the Order is."

"Guess Dumbledore may have asked for one at some point, and no one turns him down," James muttered without much enthusiasm, as he'd already been keeping a mental list of all the people he'd heard of dying already. He was entirely sure he didn't want to hear much more about this.

Harry had already once seen Moody before his face was really a mess, but even seeing it again a photo right next to the real thing could be a shock for his mind.

Lily paled to a ghastly white color and couldn't seem to keep going for a moment, just concentrating instead on that warm spot her husband provided while Sirius tried wildly to point out, "well, now we have a time frame! Dumbledore asks for a group shot, we put Marlene on extra watch!" He said this too loudly, but it gave Lily enough of a reminder this hadn't happened yet to another person she knew, she could still be saved.

Sirius ran his hand through his hair bitterly as he remembered the details of that being recounted, of who all had been involved. He was now more than jokingly considering asking Lily to please skip this part already, it didn't feel worth it to hear how their friends were soon going to turn out.

James retched and couldn't help but recoil from her for just a moment.

Remus had to blink slowly, but he couldn't quite erase his blurry vision even as he tried to picture Doge without his hat considering he wore it all the time. This was by far the easiest thing to be comparing in these time frames though, so he forced himself to linger on this rather than having to keep listening to these wretched details.

Harry tried desperately to think of some way to erase those haggard looks from their faces, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "so the Weasley's aren't in the Order now?" Figuring Molly and her husband would be mentioned next to her brother.

"Oh, err, no they're not. I think they were offered, but both declined. I really don't know much about them honestly, only met them once through Gideon," Lily murmured.

"Wow, what?" James had to snap himself back into paying actual attention to what Lily was saying just in time to hear that, and he frowned at her in confusion. "So I guess Dumbledore does have a brother that's in the Order."

"Wonder what he gets up to," Sirius agreed with honest curiosity, thinking this group meeting might be worth it just to meet this man of such a famous wizard. He was suddenly sure this Aberforth had all sorts of amusing, blackmail, stories about a younger Dumbledore.

Harry could feel a bead of sweat beginning to form on the back of his neck with mentions to this, of Dumbledore and his sibling, or more than one...

This group had never even heard that name, and it was a kind distraction just for a second to try and theorize how they could go to Dumbledore and warn this woman as well without gaining suspicion of how they'd know such a thing.

Sirius brushed his hand through his now shoulder length hair curiously, wondering just how long it was in Harry's time.

Lily's voice hitched, and then failed her all together at that coming up twice in this chapter now. The hurt was always sitting there in the back of her mind, waiting to pounce even without someone explicitly bringing it up, now she really could feel a traitorous tear slipping through before she brushed it furiously away and kept going entirely too loud, but it was all she could do, otherwise she'd break down. She couldn't even bare to glance at her boys again or she'd lose herself entirely.

Sirius ran a shaking hand down his face, but the words failed of him trying to say he'd been looking out for his pup, perhaps seen something of Moody talking to him bothering him, it was just hard to pretend he was thinking of anything except removing a spine from a spineless creature.

Remus could still feel the permanent mark those encounters had left on them all.

"Glad we're not the only ones," James whispered for himself, but Harry heard anyways and they met eyes just for a moment in silent understanding.

Lily shifted uncomfortably, she was still reading in a too strained and tight voice, and if she was forced to deal with anymore bad news she'd likely toss the book away and turns into James chest any moment just to be done with her feelings for a change. Who else could be having a breakdown now? It was her burning desire to try and help anyone out if they were in pain that managed to help push her own away so she could find out.

Sirius really almost did faint in surprise as scenarios began flipping through his head, of Death Eater's storming in and catching Ron off guard while he'd snuck upstairs to check on his broom, of the poor kid being attacked by something in that house they hadn't managed to exterminate yet, his falling down those stairs and someone coming across his body-

Harry gasped wildly and lunged forward to snatch the book away from her. He'd just had to relive the sharp experience of his parents being out of his life all over again, he couldn't stand losing someone else!

"Harry breath," Remus reminded cooly, even if his face was still a bit too pale from what he'd just heard from Moody and the honest shock of that scenario ever being a thing. "There was a boggart in this room, remember. Molly wandered off to go get rid of it, I think you just walked in on some bad timing."

Lily got the book back from her son while he was still wavering with understanding this, and quickly kept going even more loudly than before, every last bit of her hoping beyond all hope that was really what was going on!

The book nearly fell out of Lily's shaking hands, a combination of relief at such a drastic misunderstanding and still lingering sorrow of her own for this mother whom she now completely could sympathize with. She had so many she cared about, it was only natural this was any mothers boggart.

Harry watched those around him relax even as he couldn't shake this nasty feeling that his fear still pounding through him wasn't so unfounded, he had a very good reason to be worried about a dead Weasley...

Harry choked and shook his head furiously to push away something so powerful it was rearing up inside him to strike him down now if he lingered on that idea.

James was running his fingers in agitation through his scalp as he fought whether to break in and ask if the boggart had managed to create both at once or was he just simplifying another two bodies. He came to his own silent conclusion it must be the first, even in death Molly couldn't picture the twins apart it seemed.

Lily's voice wavered and nearly failed her as she was forced to imagine the same thing, while James wrapped an arm tight around her in comfort and a sudden tightening in his throat finally dispelling the majority of his anger at Molly. She'd still said some way to harsh things to his best friend, but at least now he could see she'd truly meant it in her heart of seeing his son as her own, and he couldn't really hate someone like that.

Harry almost felt his own sob of relief escape him for this finally being cut off, he just couldn't imagine if that thing had kept going, he'd be forced to see even more people he cared about. Maybe even Ginny- his left hand suddenly spasmed and he clasped them tightly together in his lap instead to ignore whatever that moment was.

Lily was fidgeting with the last page of this chapter, finally, as she all too easily envisioned that. She wondered if Remus was having any other flashbacks to comforting a redheaded mother in fear for her child.

Remus was staring vacantly at nothing as those words registered. Molly wasn't the only one who had those kinds of nightmares, though at least she'd never been the featuring monster doing the act to her loved ones.

Sirius felt his vision tunnel, a ghost crawling slowly up his spine and wrapping tight around him and refusing to let go of the idea that this would be the second time in his life he'd see his dead best friend, now somehow actually made worse as the fear of losing Harry all at the same time was shoved in his face...

"Sirius?" Harry gave him a hard poke, all of them watching him fearfully for that haunted look he usually only got when Dementors were being spoken of. Going with that assumption, Harry tried to laugh off, "it was gone before it could zone in on me, nothing else happens because of it."

"Right," he nodded hard, still staring steadily at his brother and forcing himself to watch the odd, curious look in place rather than the vacant eyes he'd envisioned.

"Hardly," James murmured with conviction while Lily snuggled deeper into the crook of his arm.

"I would never," Harry said almost indignantly, unable to picture such a fierce woman and mother as less because of her greatest fear.

"That's not something to be saying to a crying woman," Sirius told purely because the words had escaped him without him even realizing it, there was no trace of him that could find mocking humor in this.

Harry made a terrifying, rasping noise of fright, his whole body tensed as if ready for a fight while he was seconds away from reliving something of what that boggart had just shown him-

"It's going to be alright Harry," Sirius marched into his train of thought with a comforting squeeze on his shoulder, clearly taking his own fear he'd just experienced and forcing it aside to pay attention to anything else, even Harry's resembled one. "That Weasley family is as tough as they come, things will work out. You're fine, everyone's going to be fine."

Harry forced himself to meet his eyes even if he in no way felt the comfort.

Lily couldn't read that without a hard hitch in her throat as it was exactly the fear she held for the woman and child. She'd always felt pity for Percy, could almost see how his offense could have lived with his parents choosing some outsider of the family rather than refusing to see his side, but as she knew her son was the one in the right all she could really do was cling to the now bleak hope it all somehow just had to work out.

James hated that it all kept floating right there as a constant reminder. His friends, his wife, how soon they'd all succumb to this war... and who's fault it was. Even if he hadn't raised the wand, even if some of them would have died without the intel that had been provided, he could never look another member of the Order in the face again without always knowing there was one member to kill them all.

Remus was honestly grateful Sirius had stopped him, even now he didn't think that was the best line of comfort, he'd just been trying to fling around facts in hopes she'd quiet which is what normally worked for himself.

Sirius wasn't at all surprised that's what he'd caught on. He knew a little something about regret when it came to losing estranged family. He was still living through that highlight.

"Absolutely no one will blame you at that time mate," James agreed nastily while Harry gave an obligatory laugh for the statement while ignoring some vicious little thought popping up in his mind he hoped his godfather lived long enough to see that day. He stamped that right back out and refused to acknowledge it as anything other than his pessimistic side having some bad timing while watching Molly fear the same for her own loved ones.

Harry had never even imagined the idea of where his best friend would live if not with his parents. His first assumption he supposed would be one of his older brothers, Bill seemed the most likely, but what Remus had just said really struck a cord in Harry as he realized how much Remus did care. Making him want to question all the more where his stance had been back when Harry had gone to live with the Dursleys. He was growing more confident by the day though he did not get an answer to that.

It suddenly hurt James too much just to even look at Lily. To see the emotions that caused to play out on her face, to hear how broken her voice came out with that, so he turned busy eyes anywhere else while unable to remove himself from her side to keep her soft warm body as his comfort.

This was certainly a big enough thing anybody normally would have eagerly flipped topics, to discuss and try to figure out why Harry's scar would be burning at a time like this, but for once they were all to clammed up in their own heads for fear of this future for that to have even made much of an impact past the smallest bit of registering it happening, and Harry immediately brushing it off.

"Absolutely not," Remus muttered to himself, "talking to yourself is perfectly normal."

"Most people still bother keeping it in their own head," Sirius remarked quietly, leaning just a bit more closely to Moony than normal for that reminder he still had one friend with him in this bleak future.

"I'm done," Lily snapped with triumph, wishing she could go back to that moment, to so many before of her sons more childlike memories rather than having the harsh reality of the life she was living slammed down around them.

"I know it's hard love," James promised, running his hand up and down her back and still looking vacantly around the room, "so if you need me to fini-"

"No, I meant with the chapter," she corrected, all of her features still brittle with everything she'd been feeling in these moments. James finally looked back over at her, and it took a moment to drag himself out of the depth of her eyes to remember he had a book to grab.

HPHPHPHPHP

I'm not sorry for how harsh I was on Hermione in the portion of this chapter you all know I'm talking about. She really ticked me off while she was talking about Sirius, just like Molly before. Both women just seem to have this high and mighty status when it comes to him where they think they know everything about him and are trying to correct his everyting, thinking they know and understand the reasons he acts the way he does, and I just want to smack both of them and tell them to leave the poor guy alone because both aren't true even one little bit. The closest person is Remus and even he lost a lot of rights in telling Sirius anything after twelve years. Molly earned back some sympathy here at the end, but now Hermione's in the hothouse which probably won't last long because...well honestly because it doesn't really come back up again which really makes me mad, but doesn't hold much focus so there's no point in continually revisiting it.

I've heard that in some of the original drafts of this book Ron was slated to die at some point, and I feel like that's made pretty clear in this chapter in particular. Am absolutely not saying I wanted it to happen, I love Ron to much, but credit to this woman for constantly setting up so many things.

* I do realize I created my own little plot hole in saying this was the book Lupin used as boggarts can't be found in that, but rather than just making one up on the spot I wanted to incorporate that into cannon a little better, and just pretend that the actual book is longer than the version we all get.

  
  



	10. LUNA LOVEGOOD

To all of my guest reviewers and anyone ever, I'll never be angry if you disagree with a single thing I type/ write, you are your own opinion and if you think Hermione was in the right or you don't see Sirius the same way I do, I'm always happy to hear it and enjoy another side of things, it's honestly fun for me whether I agree or not! Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts in reviews no matter what the contents are!

HPHPHPHP

James had never found it such a struggle in his life to get started on his part of the book. Even homework had never felt this bad. They weren't naive, they all had known when stepping into the Order they should be expecting a short mortality rate, but for it to be so hard pressed into them on top of the honestly much crueler parts of hearing the living people's futures. James had to work hard to collect himself, to glance at his wife, son, and friends around him to remind himself why he kept going. For the change that had to come, the good there had to be in being forced to live through this.

"That is the most unrealistic dream you've ever had," Sirius scoffed.

Harry rubbed absently at his scar, wishing this would quite being mentioned already as it never failed to leave him uneasy.

They all frowned in pity for that, hoping Ginny wasn't hurt too bad, and entirely sure Molly's yelling most likely wasn't necessary that time, the twins were most likely feeling guilty enough for that move. Harry only partially disagreed, in envisioning himself jumping down those stairs to make sure she was alright while giving the twins a good telling off himself.

"I'm sure going to miss hearing about this," Sirius said with utter sarcasm, he was looking forward to Harry going back to school more than anyone just so he didn't have to keep hearing about this place.

"I would never hurt her!" Sirius yelped as he pressed his hand to his heart while James ignored him and Harry's light smile.

"They've been so inconsistent with that, I'd really love a chart on where they stand," Lily muttered.

"That's ridiculous, he's too tall, he wouldn't fit behind one," Remus deadpanned.

"More likely a street light," James tacked on with a stupid smirk mostly for remembering what those were.

"I think using manners while shouting is a bit of an oxymoron," Sirius smirked.

"I'm sure she just loved that," Lily snorted.

"Couldn't describe a more perfect background noise," Sirius snipped, trying to count down the seconds until this place would be mentioned no more.

"I can not remember a time where that word has stopped me from doing anything," Sirius sniffed with the happiest smile on his face Harry had yet seen when he was mentioned inside this place.

Harry cracked up laughing as he remembered seeing the pooch, who always seemed to carry a far more carefree attitude than his human godfather.

"There's the proper response," Lily agreed, her voice far less begrudging than Harry was expecting, which meant even she must think it was a good idea for him to be getting some air.

"For the last time, hopefully," Sirius muttered without any real feeling, knowing he wouldn't be so lucky.

Even Sirius couldn't help a light scowl for this woman never seeming to show a spot of fun. He wasn't doing anyone any harm by being out like this with Harry, you'd think she'd at least be grateful to him for the extra protection against Harry with his extra senses.

"Even hearing of some of the ways makes me still feel for them," James agreed with mild sympathy.

They were all still snickering lightly at listening to their carefree Padfoot to really take the chance and scowl at Molly for what they believed was a fair comparison in that moment.

Harry laughed all the harder while Sirius smirked for this, but the others were starting to feel just a touch of concern replace their happiness at hearing of Sirius being so carefree. If he wasn't careful, he'd draw too much attention to himself, and they certainly didn't want to risk hearing about that.

Sirius watched that happy smile on Harry's face, and was suddenly even more personally grateful he could only join Harry as a dog. He wasn't entirely sure of the expression that would be there if he were human in that moment...

Sirius smirked and sat up a little straighter in pride, he rarely showed off his Padfoot form to be honest, but it was nice to get recognition for it.

Lily rolled her eyes, she'd never wanted to see a smug expression transformed into a dog, trust Sirius to pull that off.

Remus was gazing absently at that for a moment as he muttered to himself, "pretty sure a large majority of the population is arriving on this day, so even if they were followed, I mean even Malfoy was technically going that way and not-"

Sirius gave him a little nudge to get him to stop.

James smirked to himself as he imagined a few implications of that happening. Harry may not have noticed his friends taking any special interest in the twins, but James saw Remus doing this as a perfect opportunity to hopefully pass along a few Marauder ideas onto the clearly troublesome trio that wasn't his son and friends for once.

Lily nibbled on her lip in fear for a moment for those implications but surely if something had happened to him they wouldn't all be acting like he'd just missed an appointment. Still, it didn't feel right him not showing up like this.

"Why did I need the add on," Harry mock demanded with wide eyes.

"If I've heard half the things from your past, you need far more than that," Remus rolled his eyes right back.

Harry could feel whatever humor he'd built up start to ebb away already, something of this scene and all of them at the train station for him leaving some lingering fear deep inside him as he looked once more to his godfather. What could that have to do with messages now...

"I'm so sure that wasn't an accident," Lily snorted softly.

Remus whacked him upside the head at the exact same time Lily snapped, "Sirius, you idiot!"

Sirius shrugged without remorse, thinking even if Harry came to visit him on Christmas holiday he was owed some kind of goodby to him in whatever form he wanted.

"Because saying his name like that is the smart rebuke," James muttered even if Lily swatted him as well for not taking that more seriously.

Harry gave one last snicker of delight even as his mother groaned into her hands what a moron her friend was for continuing to draw attention to himself like that. He couldn't just do one thing subtlety could he.

Harry felt a tight sharpening in this throat that made him very grateful he wasn't the one reading right now, he knew he couldn't have worked past that moment to ignore it if he'd been called out on for it, and yet he did not for a second want to dwell on whatever that meaningless sentence was. He'd see Sirius again in no time of course.

"Merlin's pants, this girl once set a teacher on fire! Can she please stop trying to lecture others on how to act!" James snarled.

"She couldn't even do it to his face," Remus sniffed in agreement, "but waited until they were on the train and out of sight from him."

"Least Ron sympathizes," Remus muttered approvingly, wishing he'd heard his opinion on this at some point, and honestly just as grateful he hadn't.

"Technically straight away," Remus agreed, "but I usually prefered to follow them and see where they were going to be first."

"Didn't make that any less awkward," Harry muttered as he sat there for a moment in shock as he realized he'd never ridden the train without Ron.

"You think Hermione said something to him about how I first reacted?" Harry asked quietly.

They wanted to at once reassure Ron was just feeling as awkward as Harry for the moment he realized he couldn't be hanging around his friend the whole trip, but well, they wouldn't put it past Hermione at this point either to have warned Ron that Harry had a spot of jealousy there for a moment. That could leave Ron feeling all the more awkward for this.

"Never believed he was," Sirius said with honest chipper.

"Least you get to stick around a Weasley," Remus said brightly while Harry suddenly got an awkward smile in place, something about him and Ginny in a compartment alone together that had his left hand suddenly being a bit more fidgety than normal.

"I thought first years always did that when they saw you," Lily murmured with discomfort.

"Not that many of them were younger kids," Harry muttered, any trace of that smile gone now to be replaced with a bleak scowl as he remembered all those articles he'd never read.

"Sounds like it," James grumbled, "but the way I see it, who cares."

Harry did manage some kind of laugh for that at least.

James paused with an awkward look on his face before glancing guiltily at his wife and friends saying, "I swear Ginny's the one who called her that. Who names their kid Loony?"

"Maybe it's a nickname?" Remus tried uneasily, thinking Ginny wouldn't have suggested it or called her such a thing otherwise.

"Well I definitely want to meet anyone who gets that kind of introduction," Sirius said with an interesting smirk.

"Either Neville's incredibly shy, or he already knows the background of this one," Sirius snickered with even more interest now.

"What was he planning on doing, spending the whole train ride in the halls?" James agreed, his awkward look quickly passing into mild curiosity as well.

By the time James was done, all three boys had the same odd smile in place, leaving Harry starting to wonder just how they'd introduce themselves to this girl, and rearing up some protective feelings in himself. They didn't look mean about it per say, but not like they were going to avoid her either. He decided to hold his tongue and see what they actually had to say about her first.

Sirius was distracted for a moment by blinking in recognition of something he'd never heard of before, then it clicked and he said, "oh, isn't that the magazine Arthur and Kingsley mentioned regarding me."

"Oh yeah, didn't you ever read that?" James demanded of his son.

"No," Harry muttered as the last of his summer came pressing in on him all the harder of Sirius' avoidance of him, even something they could have shared a laugh over about whatever this article was.

Both boys realized they hadn't made anything any better by asking Harry about this so James quickly moved on.

James gave a mock gasp in shock and turned wide eyes on his son while demanding, "really? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Lily clucked her tongue impatiently and waved him on before Harry could respond.

"His responses have gotten far better since the twins did that," Sirius snickered.

Lily's face puckered with disappointment at that, hoping it was Neville's lingering awkwardness not wanting him to add in rather than him really trying to even downplay his being in there like that. Either option was really sad.

Sirius had a torn expression on his face now, like he couldn't decide if he should be laughing or moving on from this, but James decided on the latter for him.

"You didn't even mention the best parts of that gift last time," James got a dreamy look back on his face.

"Namely, getting you onto the Quidditch team as the youngest Seeker ever," Sirius emphasized like Harry would have forgotten this fact again.

Harry hadn't, but he laughed all the same for the reminder.

"Bummer," Remus snorted.

"Why?" Sirius balked.

"Did you really just ask why it's named that?" Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Well it is a dumb name," James agreed fairly, "I couldn't even read it with a straight face."

"Fascinating description as always," Remus snickered.

"That bloke that dropped him out a window," Lily demanded with a raised brow.

"And gave Neville his toad," Harry reminded sheepishly.

Sirius scratched absently at his ear as he tried to understand how, or why, you'd breed a plant, but honestly didn't care enough to ask.

"Least I'm not the only one," Sirius agreed.

Lily frowned at him and opened her mouth, possible to give him a life long lecture he'd been avoiding in all his skipped Herbology classes, and so was as thankful as ever his best mate could take a hint and ignored the both of them.

James took one moment to blink, blink again, and then promptly the whole room collapsed with laughter for the mental image, Harry included.

Harry rolled his eyes indulgently as they enjoyed his misfortune, but the blith laughter was so needed in the tense room for so long he couldn't much stop his own laughter cracking through as he vividly remembered the scene.

"It's not poisonous is it?" Remus asked with more amusement than concern as clearly Harry was fine.

"Don't think so, but it stank worse than that troll did," Harry said.

"You should really be thanking Neville for waiting to find that out around you," James said, not even bothering to hide his laughter at this misfortune one bit.

"That timing," Remus yelped with a wince of sympathy, while James utterly lost it and collapsed in his seat laughing his arse off.

"I'm just so glad you're getting your kicks out of this, considering I wouldn't have been surprised to walk in on you doing something similar," Lily told him to try and get him to stop, despite her own twitching lips for the hilarity of the moment. It had no affect on James this time, even all his remembered spurns from his wife couldn't quell this moment, so she snatched the book away from him and when even that didn't work, she had to go on even louder over him and his snickering friends.

"Well she doesn't seem much fun," Remus told him conversationally over his still giggling friends. "What girl wouldn't want to join in on this fun."

Harry pouted at him and grumbled something about he hadn't wanted to join in this.

"You don't even know very cool people," Sirius chose now to point out to Harry. "It's not like we were in school with you at the time."

Harry really did whack his godfather upside the head for that, causing the others to laugh all the harder.

"But that's so much more memorable!" James wheezed out, finally coming back to himself and trying to grab the book back from Lily. She let it go, reluctantly. Harry would have protested if he could find his tongue yet, but it was still burning with the rest of his red face.

"She couldn't have done that while Cho was there?" Sirius pouted.

"Why would she want to," Lily reminded with a tittering laugh, Harry's face still astonishingly red and refusing to acknowledge his mindset telling him which girls name had given his stomach a flip at their picking.

"It's hardly fun to be doing that job," Remus agreed with sympathy.

"Oh, he isn't," Remus groaned, finally sobering some of James' laughter as he scowled at the next word.

"Argh!" Sirius sneered in disgust. "I wish I was more surprised, but that pompous, arrogant little toe rag was probably Snape's only option to Dumbledore!"

"You'd really think some other Slytherin would get some attention at some point to help balance things out," Lily sighed with regret.

"I think I like it when Hermione insults people," Sirius grinned at that, though he was the only one as the others were still angry at her for the last person she'd insulted according to them.

"Surprised he doesn't remember that part, as he hadn't spoken a word to her all night," Lily arched a reproachful brow.

"Or surprised to find this Luna in there," James smirked.

"Was she trying to say she was wishing Ron had asked her?" Sirius blinked in surprise.

"I don't think so," Harry said with as much assurance as he could, "just, she wouldn't have minded it." Even a vague sweep of his memories showed nothing between Ron and Luna.

The others weren't so sure after that, but they didn't really think Ginny would be giggling at Luna's attempts either, though that could have been because of her brothers face. They all let it go though as it could just be more of Luna's, quirkiness, that they'd already noticed.

"Honestly the only good part of the job," Remus agreed.

"Only if you abuse it," Lily muttered with a nasty look at him, he'd tried to dish out a few detentions to Snape once in awhile that hadn't always worked, but had clearly amused him at the time.

"That's an abuse of power!" Sirius smirked at his own brilliance while Remus smacked him for increasing the echo in here.

"I'll kiss Kreacher if you don't catch him doing so in the first week," Sirius scoffed.

"The only people that take the high road are the ones who don't know the secret tunnels," Sirius smirked.

"That was convoluted," Lily rolled her eyes at him, now repressing the urge to smack the lot of them.

Harry could feel his right fist clenching unconsciously at the mention of that, for this year in particular for some reason...

"Well that's just cruel," Remus smirked, "as he obviously can't help any such thing."

"I love that means even Hermione cracked," Sirius chuckled.

"I was just fixing to ask you the same thing," James finished with a bewildered stare at his son.

Harry opened his mouth, struggled to come up with any real comment, and then just shrugged with a bemused smile still in place.

"That seems a little violent, even for Fudge," Lily frowned in confusion.

"What kind of magazine was this again?" James asked before remembering Harry had never heard of it so reading on curiously.

"As if the Ministry would ever be stupid enough to step in there," Remus scoffed.

James at once felt like a weight had been slammed into him as he read that last one, the others gasping wildly while Sirius nearly fell of the couch in excitement as he squealed, "really?" He'd gone so long now with everyone in this future thinking him a crazy madman, he couldn't believe there was a person outside the Order who was putting this out there!

James would never dream of making something like that up as he read started back with high pitched excitement, the bubble of hope bouncing around inside him almost unfamiliar to him now.

"Merlin's pants, don't encourage the man's ideas for more name puns," Remus muttered even as he listened eagerly to see if someone other than them realized Sirius' innocence.

James had to squint hard at that, realized his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and then kept going loudly more out of confusion and still some real hope in there anyone was going to shed some light on his innocent friend.

"Err, never," Remus kept trying to pick at his ear like he was sure he was hearing wrong, even if all the other blank faces were proof enough. "I mean, he's not bad, but-"

James interrupted what he found entirely pointless, to read, for once in his life.

James was just grateful the article hadn't supplied the name of that wizard...

"Okay, you started off really well, but then..." Lily trailed off as she wasn't sure what else to say about any of this. Of course Sirius had been there, but honestly she'd still take a fake reason for the Ministry letting this go and investigating further than the full truth, anything to get just one win, even a bitter one of that rat still not being their next victim.

James looked up to indicate he was done, to find Sirius with an actual look of consideration on his face before nodding and saying, "you know what, I'll take that. It's not as good as what I was hoping for, but honestly, I'll take anything at this point."

Lily still looked torn on whether she was supposed to be laughing or not, while Remus gave in and just started laughing because he wasn't sure what else to do with this new information. It seemed ludicrous in the way it was put, but he was on Sirius' side with one major point, his friend deserved some kind of break even if it was this one.

James couldn't find the room in him to laugh this off like the others, he was too busy realizing that Stinksap had just drowned his little hope bubble and now he felt like a fool for thinking Sirius could get off so easily. He forced himself to keep going past his stupid moment and ignored whatever looks he was getting from the others.

Harry was still looking on with a bemused expression, thinking his own thoughts weren't too far off on what was going on here.

"I don't know anyone who would have thought otherwise," Lily muttered.

James couldn't help his face to be twisted with agitation at the end. As if Sirius' story wasn't ludicrous enough, it had to be in the same magazine as this drivel. Great, so apparently the only one who could possible be rooting for Sirius' freedom besides them was a tabloid on par with Rita.

The others were feeling the same way, as depressed by their hopes being shot down as they had been at all the things said about him of late. Only Sirius could keep that insufferable smile in place that was getting harder by the moment to fake.

"Credit for originality," Remus sighed, wishing he could laugh at this more, but loosing any fun it could have considering how harsh the blow was this was being looked at as a joke.

"I don't even know where to start with that one," James muttered as his brows crept towards his hairline.

"Least that one's useful," Remus pretended to laugh.

"See, Harry agrees with me," Sirius snorted.

"Guess I'm not surprised she's heard of it," Lily sighed.

"Did she really have to say that while Luna was reading it," Harry frowned, that protective surge raising for her of all people. "Luna could enjoy reading that for fun."

"We've well established Hermione doesn't take note of who's around her when she speaks her mind," James sniffed.

"Ah," Remus said with a flinch on Hermione's part, she was just getting on everyone's nerves of late. "She managed to make that even worse."

"Another specialty of hers," James muttered.

"Have we yet to go a train visit without this one buggering in?" Sirius blustered, more than happy to switch off topic of that magazine, but not to this.

"Second year," Harry offered without any emphasis.

"And even then, I'll take the Whomping Willow over him," James huffed.

"Merlin's pants, end me now so I won't have to live with this for the next three books," Sirius groaned in disgust.

"I always counted my blessings Snively was never made Prefect for this exact reason," James groaned in disgust.

Causing everyone in here to laugh lightly.

"Wouldn't know," Harry snarked back under his breath.

Sirius opened his mouth with a happy little smirk in place, but Remus gave him such a hard whack over the head he yipped in protest and looked actually offended. "What the bloody hell was that for?"

"Malfoy recognized you, you idiot," he snapped back. "A whole mess of problems could be going on now because of that."

"Like what?" He demanded, still rubbing at the spot and looking more petulant than worried. "It's not a secret I'm going to be around Harry or that anyone on that platform with Harry was an Order member, they were all loyal to Dumbledore. Besides, exaggerating much Moony? People say dogging all the time."

"Trust me, we know, you always had to make the crack at school about how you'd better be extra careful to watch your step with them talking about you," James rolled his eyes. "I just wish you'd taken your own advice for once."

"You lot are ridiculous," Sirius sniffed, but he couldn't think how to argue back anymore either as James kept going with a lot more anxiety now.

"Or maybe he just doesn't read into every stupid little detail," Sirius sniffed, still rubbing the back of his head more for exaggerating his point than anything. Remus was now ignoring him.

"Gah!" Sirius snarled in frustration as he turned on Harry. "Not you too, what is wrong with the lot of you, acting like everything I do is a bad idea lately."

"Because it is," Lily told him like she was scolding a naughty child.

"Well we can't say it's nothing new at least," Remus muttered.

"Again, not a very well kept secret, if the Death Eaters know half as much as I think they do," Sirius reminded with a particularly ugly look in place for where they could have possibly learned all that information.

"That's inconvenient," Remus said just to make James stop reading with so much strain of late. Despite their worry, Remus just had to remember Sirius was going to be fine, he had to be. "I always wonder why we couldn't just leave our pets on the train as well as our luggage, we only release them as soon as we step inside anyways."

James only agreed absently, clearly still reading with his mind back on that grim place Sirius was back at.

"What?" They all muttered in confusion, Harry with absolute concern as his mind swapped from a nagging worry he couldn't understand about Sirius, to whoever this vaguely familiar voice had been.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry demanded of no one.

Clearly no one around him knew, but it only seemed to make Harry's panicky feelings that much worse. First Sirius, now Hagrid, what was happening to all of his friends?

"Relax Harry," Lily managed a soothing voice quite well considering her own worry for the man she considered a friend even not having known him very well in her own time. Anyone who cared so much about Harry though she held a personal connection with. "He's been tied up with some creatures from time to time like last year with the Skrewts, I'm sure it's nothing to get worked up over."

No one really believed her, not even herself, as surely McGonagall or some other teacher would be out there then, not the replacement of Hagrid's last time he'd been missing whole classes.

"I can't imagine why they'd both be out there," Remus disagreed gently.

"That's, an option," Sirius said, though as unconvinced as Harry as Hagrid had a great immune system and rarely if ever got sick by anything like the sniffles.

Harry couldn't help a nasty shiver, his return to Hogwarts felt foreboding with how alone he suddenly felt in that moment.

"Oh yeah, guess you'll be seeing those now," Remus blinked in surprise as he listened intently. He'd only known one person who'd watched someone die to see them in person, but despite the black circumstances that Harry now could, he'd much rather hear from him than his first source.

Harry's eyes had grown steadily wider as he recalled the presence of these beasts, the question coming out of him so quietly it took a second for Remus to realize he'd spoken at all.

"Why can I see them now?"

Remus couldn't stop the bubbling enthusiasm that always captured him when he was speaking of any beasts, even ones so grim as these. "They're such a rare thing, because only people who have seen death can see them."

Harry's eyes actually went wider at such an explanation, but his voice came out a bit more normal with the interaction. "So why am I seeing them now, and not when I left school last year."

Remus winced as he tried to explain this, "it really is a loose interpretation of 'seeing death.' It took you a while to, ah, process and recognize for the death of, well for it all to sink in." He hated watching Harry pail at even the remainder of this, so he kept babbling about the other facets that he both knew and had speculated on over the years just to keep a better focus. "Wonderful creatures really, highly intelligent, can travel anywhere just by your asking them to take you. We've mentioned they can carry Hagrid, that should tell you something of their strength, ah they're one of the rarest forms a patronus can take, oh and there's this fascinating rumor their tail is the core in the-"

"Can you see the patronus if you haven't seen someone die?" James cut him off as he'd never heard that one.

"I've never seen it in person, but the text I read certainly implied as much," Remus agreed. "It is your magical guardian after all, while still in patronus form."

Harry's eyes were still wide, though now with surprise at learning this than whatever his brain had been trying to process with something in regards to those things, and a trip? He shut that off and kept asking for more, "does that mean that persons animagus would be a Thestral as well? Could you see yourself if you transformed?"

"Yes, and honestly, I have no clue," Remus pouted at the end. "As I said, extraordinarily rare for this to occur, magical beasts in general take a very particular person to have such a thing as other animals are far more common."

Harry pouted as he'd have liked to keep this going, but James saw he was almost done with his chapter and so tried to finish.

"It really would be nice to have someone mention this at some point," Lily winced. "I remember this second year girl I knew who cried when she saw them and no one else could, thought she was losing her mind. One of the elder kids explained it to her, but honestly if he hadn't that poor thing would still probably be a bit traumatized."

"What are they supposed to do, put cards on the carriages saying, 'these are not pulling themselves, you just can't see the things doing it'?" Sirius rolled his eyes at her. "That would make them all think it even weirder."

Lily huffed but still planned on trying to come up with some other way that wouldn't scare the piss out of youngsters for this happening.

"Those who are surprised, please raise their hand," James snorted in disgust even as he didn't bother looking up.

James rolled his eyes and tsked in annoyance even as Lily pinched him to get him to stop, she was saving a spot for them, not going on without them.

Harry felt a nasty feeling crawling the back of his neck as he saw something Ron couldn't. It didn't matter he'd been given an explanation for it upfront now, he could already feel his mind laughing at him for seeing things that weren't really there...

All three boys were twitching with unease. Like Lily, they'd had a conversation similar to this at the beginning of their second year, and they'd had a good laugh that he was pulling something on them as a long running gag for ages before Remus had actually discovered what they were. They'd felt bad none of them had believed their friend for so long, now they were looking back on the instance and just wishing they'd called him crazy and abandoned him from their life while they had the chance.

"Oh please don't tell me he's going to start worrying about me now," Sirius pouted, ducking on instinct as Remus made to hit him again for doing that joke for the third time in one chapter.

"There's some relief," James muttered, bouncing in place in agitation as it felt nothing lately could keep something bad from cropping back up in his mind.

"For some reason, I don't find that all too comforting," Sirius made a stab at a joke which everyone ignored.

"And Harry even agrees with me," Sirius said triumphantly while James smiled at him for his Padfoot still trying to make jokes when no one else wanted him to. There was some comfort his best friend wasn't changing in here any time soon.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

In regards to the Thesteral thing, I've answered in previous chapters why Harry couldn't see them before now regarding Quirrell, didn't even know he was dead until told, and while he 'technically' saw his mother die, he did not in fact recognize what was happening in his infant self therefore it dosen't count.

  
  



	11. THE SORTING HAT'S NEW SONG

 

To Guest: Sorry, not in the foreseeable future, mostly because of how much I'm working on top of starting a class here soon. I'll still try to get an extra one in sometimes, and I'm aiming to finish by 4th of July so I am going to have to start adding in extra chapters at some point. I might just do a ton at the end like I did last time, and the Department of Mysteries chapters will all go up every other day or some such. That's the plan right now anyways.

HPHPHPHPHP

Sirius took the book even with that knot of unease still residing in him that he refused to acknowledge purely for his friends benefit. If they saw how much his own future problems were worrying him, then they'd be freaking out even more, Sirius never let anything bother him. Instead he started with absolute amusement. Harry was back at school, and even considering all the problems he'd had in previous years there, at least they got more fun out of that place than old Grimmauld could ever offer.

"I think that's pushing bounds a bit, even by magic standards," Lily smirked. "I can't see any two people having the exact same hallucination."

"Gee thanks," Harry rolled his eyes at her.

"He would never," James said at once with absolute conviction.

Remus though, suddenly looked contemplative as he remembered back to the end of last year, and how Hagrid may have been planning a little trip...and then he quickly grew worried of how that could have turned out. He kept his silence though, seeing no point in worrying Harry further until he had proof. Missions like those could take time, longer than a few months, and Hagrid was even tougher than him.

"Hey!" Harry, James, and Sirius all snapped at once.

The three glared at the other two, but while Remus looked chagrined and still didn't say anything, Lily shrugged without remorse. "I adore Hagrid and of course I don't want anything to happen to him, but you've all admitted he's not the best teacher. Without the knowledge we have of him with Harry, we'd probably be thinking the same thing."

"Not the point," Sirius muttered in annoyance as he turned back.

Remus at least gave a weak laugh for that.

"Got to admire this girl," Sirius said grudgingly, "she speaks her mind, even when she clearly realizes she touched a nerve."

"She's like Hermione, except a spot more ah, with more of a um," James struggled to put into words how he was processing Luna, and then just let himself die off.

The others couldn't help agreeing now, Luna certainly had a way about her that even while speaking her mind which so annoyed them of Hermione lately, they couldn't stay mad at this girl as she clearly wasn't speaking for even hurtful intent. It was more of a free spirited comment.

Harry still couldn't get these strange creatures out of his mind as he asked, "how come I couldn't see them at the beginning of last year, when I saw Frank Bryce die?"*

That stumped them for a moment, but Remus recovered first and worked out, "you didn't really process his death as more than a dream for a long time, even when Dumbledore confirmed those things you were seeing were real you still seemed to feel detached from them. Then you would have seen his ghost at the same time as-" he had to forecfully stop himself because Harry flincehd and looked happy enough with this answer.

"I still think you raise a very good point about Ron's, and most wizards reaction to these types of things though." Lily said with interest. "With the mirror you two just accepted you saw different things, why then does Ron think you're losing it for this same instance?"

"First of all, those little kids wouldn't question if Merlin had appeared they were so new to magic in general," Sirius smirked at her.

"But mostly, it's because we were taught magic has boundaries." James shrugged. "You can't bring people back from the dead, you shouldn't trust things you don't know the magical source of. The mirror was a clearly defined item that showed your deepest desires. This instance however, without any context, Harry is insisting something is as it shouldn't be. Even magic has rules, and magic shouldn't be able to explain that until it does."

Lily still looked interested enough in the idea she would have kept going, but Sirius just didn't care enough to sit around and hear the two go on about this so he kept reading loudly over them.

Sirius really wanted to get that pale tone out of Harry's skin, so he blurted out the first question that came to mind, "think Thestrals can see each other?"**

Harry at least looked interested in this topic as it didn't directly link to him anymore and watched eagerly as Remus considered it for a moment and theorized, "no, I wouldn't think so. Of course we've no real idea, but honestly they may be visible to each other. Of course, perhaps all animals can see them, and the magic concealing them from people other than those who have seen death just don't work on more simplistic creatures. There's an honest debate for both options."

"Thank you Padfoot, you have just given Moony a whole essay to go writing," James snorted in amusement.

"Exactly how well were you getting away with that?" Sirius smirked which Harry answered by blushing and muttering.

"Well they're being as subtle as ever," Lily sniffed in annoyance.

"I'm surprised it took you so long to offer the idea," James said.

"Wanted to cover all our bases he wasn't at school," Harry sighed with disappointment.

"Wonder who's taking care of Fang, or do you think he came along?" Sirius quickly inserted.

They spent a giggling moment picturing all the teachers taking turns to care for Hagrid's dog in his absences, James getting the best laugh as he pictured tiny Professor Flitwick only just reaching Fang's head trying to fit a leash around the pooch.

"I'm guessing the new DADA teacher's already around," Sirius sighed as he gave his friend the stink eye for not being in attendance.

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't run into them yet," Lily rolled her eyes. "Have you lot realized Harry's met three and at least heard mention of every person before he got there."

"No, I hadn't," James blinked in surprise as all those circumstances sure seemed a lot to take in now that he was.

They all sat there for a moment in confusion as they had no idea what to make of this woman's arrival. There just seemed no reason for it to exist, unless something like the Tournament was happening again, in which case Merlin help them all.

Sirius came out of it first with a hard shake as he demanded, "what, has Fudge got someone attending the school regularly now? I guess she's going to be inviting herself to the feasts and public school events to keep an eye on Dumbledore now?"

"And Dumbledore's to polite to turn her down," James agreed with his face squidged up in annoyance.

"This is a new low, just unprecedented, even for the Ministry." Remus shook his head in disgust. "I can't believe they're trying to poke their nose into Hogwarts like this."

"Trying and succeeding," Lily muttered with disgust as the idea of her job actively trying to get inside information on the school now boggled her mind. What exactly did this woman think she was going to accomplish by doing this? Where was the motive?

Harry still felt the worst of all, because he was getting a very bad feeling they weren't entirely right, but very close to the mark.

"Always love Ron noting the important things," Sirius smirked.

"Don't know what she's on," Lily said curiously.

"Don't know, but how come no one else new is there either?" James brushed off onto more important things. "You should have a new DA teacher around as well."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, felt a nasty jolt for the effort, and gave in with a shrug. Sirius saved him from having to respond anyways by saying, "maybe he or she just isn't there yet, Moody got there kind of late."

"Fake Moody, and look how well that turned out," Remus grimaced in annoyance.

Sirius was suddenly brimming with excitement as he got the chance to sing the school song this time!

Sirius bounded to his feet and then flopped down on James' other side, squishing him right up next to his wife and leaving no one with any personal space as James eagerly leaned over anyways and the two began in perfect harmony;

The two finished with a triumphant high five while the others were all snickering away at the performance, but Remus decided that had indeed earned them some applause which they each took a bow for. Then James promptly shoved Sirius off of him and stated, "if I wanted you sitting on my lap I'd have long since told you."

Sirius was still chuckling as he went back over to his seat, and then theatrically spread himself out so he was invading Harry's personal space this time. Harry's only response was to push his Godfather's elbow out of his face but otherwise ignored the proximity with comfort as he kept going.

"Ah," Lily nodded to herself as she guessed what that meant. "This would be the first time they've heard a warning in theirs like ours usually held."

"It's been wierder for us hearing these pleasant versions all about the different houses," Remus agreed to Harry's curious look.

James and Sirius only looked more mildly disappointed the hat's actual words was getting more attention than their performance. Sometimes they missed being in the halls and having all eyes focused on them.

"I miss childlike ignorance," Remus winced, all of them taking a moment and wishing Harry had asked the same, instead of simply looking resignedly around the room as he must have realized himself the Hat really hadn't been all pleasantries.

"It's good the first years learn that look now," James grinned.

"Didn't do you lot any good," Lily snorted.

"Was he doing that for himself, or for you," Sirius chuckled.

"Honestly, how they don't lead a chant in congradulations is beyond me," James rolled his eyes, though to be honest he was pleased no other first year besides himself had ever tried.

The smile that flickered across his face at the moment of seeing his Headmaster again during this day was jarred as he began muttering to himself almost unconsciously about how he wished that's where the surprises would end. They all hoped they were just understanding him wrong, that he could just go this year without something happening to him.

Sirius and James were getting a good laugh out of that mental image.

"Sirius, you can't try to read and laugh at the same time, you sound ridiculous," Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, it's not that funny to watch people stuff their mouths like chipmunks."

"Ron was talking with his mouth full," Harry explained for him, an amused smile himself present at watching Sirius try to reenact that.

"I find it a sad note I understood that the first time," Remus sighed. "I clearly need to have stopped responding to them at some point when that kind of speech makes sense."

"We've no idea what you're talking about," James said saintly while Sirius didn't bother to deny it and kept reading while still half giggling.

"You don't have to be friends with Malfoy to have Slytherin friends," Lily frowned reproachfully at him. "Have you ever even mentioned any others by name except him and his little group? Not all of them are the same you know."

"At the time I didn't," Harry defended, before relenting, "but no, I hardly looked past him when speaking about the house, and I am sorry for that now. I do wish I had taken more opportunity to get to know any others, but a time never came where it wasn't always Malfoy around, so," he finished with an imploring look that she understood, which she did and gave in the argument.

"What would a ghost have to be terrified of?" Sirius scoffed at Ron's goofy comment.

"Basilisk," James muttered under his breath, but thankful Sirius hadn't lingered for a real answer.

"Certainly no one's going to stop him," Remus couldn't help a little laugh at both parties entirely overinflating this. "Ron's just mouthing off and now Nick's throwing a ghost tantrum."

"I liked Nick better when he was showing off his severed head to first years," Harry chuckled.

"I take that to mean he was simply eating again while Nick was telling him off," James snorted.

"Don't know why something like this would stop him," Sirius snickered.

"Well what more could he want?" James raised a challenging brow, that smirk still in place.

"Actual words would be a nice start," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"If she was so offended on Nick's part, she should have said something while he was still around," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She has a tendency to do that alot lately, speak her mind when the party isn't around," James huffed.

Lily suddenly felt a smack deep in her heart as she realized she'd never even asked Harry's favorite food. She'd simply whipped something up like always as her boys usually ate anything, and Harry had as well without a trace of showing dislike. It was another of those small details though, one that she'd have just thought she'd know when her son reached those ages of declaring his favorite foods. She honestly wished sometimes she could put this book down and just sit around for ages, asking him of all his favorite likes and dislikes, but the problem was if they went too long into any conversation he started having a poke at his memories to understand something odd, and then he'd go hurting himself again. Even knowing the good this was doing, she still often wished she could be doing other things regarding her baby that was all grown up.

"I don't know what you're smirking about, you've had some pretty horrifying experiences in there," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Just laughing to ourselves of what Dumbledore could mean," Harry batted his eyes innocently.

"I honestly believe that he's kept count to," Remus nodded.

"And there's always a high demand to keep that updated," James rolled his eyes.

"Especially considering how many horrid students go out of their way to keep adding to said list," Sirius tacked on with an affronted look at the idea he actually held for a few seconds.

Harry made a guttural noise of protest as he tried to fight the book away from Sirius, exclaiming, "he didn't say for how long! Surely it's not permanent!"

Sirius managed to win the fight and keep the book in his possession even as he gave Harry a sympathetic look while answering, "relax pup, I'm positive Hagrid's fine and Dumbledore's just trying not to draw attention to him being gone by not bringing up his name."

"It's impossible not to draw attention to him when he's not where he's supposed to be," Harry said back belligerently as he sat back with a huff. Sirius winced, wishing he had a better answer for him as he tried to move on.

Five jaws dropped in a stunning silence.

This was somehow even weirder than the idea of Moody teaching! That woman worked for the Ministry! So unless something had happened in a very short time from her getting fired as Senior Undersecretary, a highly unlikely scenario given her clear defense of them during Harry's trial, than that meant she was working there and at Hogwarts now! She was actually working at Hogwarts!

Harry felt a nasty tingling racing over the back of his right hand, his left moving to cover the faint white markings as he was truly derailed from Hagrid and left with a pit of worry for this news. Never before, not even Lockhart and Quirrell, had set off such a bad feeling in him as realizing he'd be spending a year in this woman's classroom.

Lily found her voice first, and it wasn't pretty as she said in a flat, icy tone, "just what is going on here? The Ministry at Hogwarts? Why on earth did Dumbledore hire this woman?"

"I'm drawing a blank," Remus winced, burrowing himself that much further into his seat as he imagined the scenario while he'd been at school, and how much worse his life could have been at the time. Considering all the things Harry got up to on a regular basis, this could be a new level of hell for the poor boy as well.

James and Sirius exchanged a truly uneasy look for this prospect as well, nothing was sitting right about this interference to their school, but Sirius forced himself to keep going no matter that feeling just to get a few more facts.

"That's the bit you caught on?" Lily wasn't that surprised, but was smiling at her son for his one track mind on his friend.

"How would I know it was so weird, sure the Ministry hadn't anything to do with Hogwarts before now," Harry shrugged, "but I was more concerned with my friend first."

"What's she got to do with Quidditch trials?" James wrinkled his nose in disgust as he tried to wave Sirius onto this very important topic.

Harry felt a knot forming in his stomach at the idea for some reason he had no care to investigate.

Sirius looked like someone had taken his broom out from beneath him as he gazed down at that bit before glancing up in even more confusion. No one had ever cut Dumbledore off from one of his speeches. Just who did this woman think she was?

"Dumbledore's had some odd moments, but this tops them all." Remus was gazing blearily forward like he was trying to understand some foreign language as Sirius read this.

"I'll be happy to inform her," Sirius said in an entirely pleasant tone that covered nothing of the intent behind those words.

Harry was getting double the amount of those feelings on him now, the combination of his predisposition and his memories trying to warn him all culminating with a truly ugly look set in place that honestly gave the lot of them chills. What on earth does this woman do?!

Remus raised an imperious brow at the start of this, demanding, "what are they, five?"

James and Sirius weren't even bothering to do as such.

Lily let out a giggle of her own.

Sirius could already start to feel himself fidgeting with boredom. Yeah, teachers were great, could Harry leave now.

"That is a genuinely new expression, I'm jealous we never got to see," James said randomly as he pulled out his wand and began twirling it in his fingers with boredom.

Lily was starting to get a bad feeling for this as she watched Sirius critically, who was now trying to mime Binns and doing a fair job of it. She wasn't falling for it though, this woman's first day she'd already begun showing a level of disrespect for the Headmaster, now she was giving a whole speech on the structure of the school and how that could be...progressed. She still couldn't shake the thought that someone so directly involved in the Ministry was there, just what was going on?

James and Sirius weren't acting much better, both becoming fidgety and bored as Sirius' eyes were already trying to skip down to the bottom where this was done, none of them seemed to particularly care whatever was being said right now, she'd already lost their respect for the way she'd treated Harry at his trial. Lily and Remus were still listening, but passively, they couldn't work up much care for whatever this woman said and as of now it mostly sounded like some pompous bit to impress, and was managing to have the opposite effect. In fact it was rather dumb, to start speaking to them as if single digit children and then launch into such a scholarly speech.

Harry was the only one keeping such sharp attention and absorbing every word. At fifteen he may not have given any more of a care than any of his fellow students, but that intuition was back full force now telling him to keep an eye on this one and he wasn't going to be ignoring that.

Remus couldn't help a little chuckle at that insert, already imagining what he and his friend could get away with in class if this was how she was going to be acting now.

By this point James was slumped over in his seat mock snoring and Sirius couldn't recollect a thing he'd just said in regards to her. They were all just glad it was over and were already hoping Harry would start skipping her classes right off the bat.

James jerked upright, mock wiping drool from his lip and muttering, "sorry Professor, miss anything important?"

Sirius was just snickering that Dumbledore hadn't allowed any proper applause to happen as it shouldn't.

"That's saying something," Remus smirked.

"Because that clarified everything," Lily snorted.

"And not even a tasty, good waffle," Sirius sighed tragically.

"Jelly filling?" Remus asked innocently.

"Thought she was just spouting things about tradition and such," Remus scratched at his ear without concern. "What's Hermione getting so worked up over?"

"Hermione gets worked up over everything," James rolled his eyes.

"Usually with good reason," Harry half-heartedly defended.

That caught all of their attention. Sirius began fidgeting uneasily with the pages as he thought that over, looking up hopefully when Lily said, "I, but they, why?" Well that wasn't helpful.

"I, Fudge is out of his mind!" Remus yelped in concern.

"If that's even what's going on," James persisted in utter denial. "Hermione could be wrong, there could be another reason for her being there..." he trailed off and looked hopefully around for someone to offer up said suggestion, but they were all coming up blank as what Hermione said really was the only explanation for a Ministry employ also being a teacher!

Sirius forced himself to keep going with a now dry throat in thought for all the implications this could hold for his school. Just what was the Ministry playing at?

"Hey, we never got to find out when the Quidditch try outs are," James pouted.

Lily smacked him and muttered something about priorities.

This was so unexpected everyone gave a surprised burst of laughter, happy Ron was always around for that at least, even if it didn't erase one spot of worry in them.

"I can at least see why she was made Prefect, we always knew she'd take well to authority," James rolled his eyes.

"Actually I'm confident you did," Remus smirked, "since I can still all to easily picture James that same way still, just replace Sirius with Ron."

"Nah, cause those two were at the front trying to lead the way when they had no idea where they were going," Lily reminded indulgently, at least giving Harry a moment to laugh at the idea.

"Merlin's pants, just what was that Prophet saying about you?" Sirius demanded tartly as the exact same thing happened to Harry in here.

"First years have always been intimidated by him," Lily tried without much hope. "Surely it can't all be because of those lies."

Harry chose not to respond, instead gazing at the fire and trying to count in his head how long this nightmare would last.

Harry felt the nasty chills creeping up his spine for being separated from his friends twice already since he was at the school in his first night. He was wishing he'd found Neville and gone along with him, or even dogged the twins up to their tower. He truly hated this feeling of isolation he could already sense pressing in on him from all sides.

They were all fidgeting with unease at the reemergence of this topic. Surely the students wouldn't really gawk at Harry for that though...and none of them could deny they honestly believed it.

"That's a recurring thing for you," James managed a sarcastic laugh.

"Hermione's almost always the one who knows it," Harry muttered without looking at him.

Harry did feel a grin reaper for that at least, thankful he did still have a friend to rely on even if it wasn't one of his best friends.

The others were just blinking in surprise of this change, vividly remembering Neville's previous occurrences with this problem and some of the trouble it had caused.

"Naww," Lily cooed with delight at the bright smile she could all to easily picture on Alice's face being passed down to her son for this moment.

"I'll bet you McGonagall had something to do with that," Sirius chuckled.

"I can almost picture it," Remus agreed. "If Neville sent word along to Sprout he was bringing that plant, and Sprout mentioned it to McGonagall..." he trailed off with a soft laugh that they all joined in on for this small but adorable little moment.

The boys perked up with interest at that, anything the twins got up to they always wanted to know more about.

"How come they don't just leave them up in between years, it's not as if we switch beds," Harry had never bothered to ask before.

"The house-elves would throw them out," Sirius sighed. "Whatever you don't take, you won't see again."

"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you," Remus muttered under his breath, all of them wincing in fear of Harry's dorm mates even treating him like this. Surely at least they must know Harry wasn't crazy, they spent too much time around him!

"Got attacked by dementors, nearly expelled, and discovered the secret group trying to stop Voldemort all while dealing with my emotional godfather," Sirius ticked off on his fingers. "I really don't see how much harder that is."

"Well that's all easy for you to say, considering you'd refuse to give any further details," James snickered as Harry at least tried for a smile in agreement. It wasn't working too well, he could already feel a fight coming, not something he was looking forward to in his dorm with someone he at least considered a passing friend with any of those boys.

Harry watched those around him wince, but he wasn't entirely sure he understood that sad look of familiarity on their face.

Thankfully his mum explained for him, "that was a common recurrence during our school days. Parents spent a lot of time going back and forth between thinking their families were safest at home together, and then putting them back in school for a time when things seemed to be going quiet so they could have an education, than flipping right back. Looks like that's starting again."

Harry frowned in sympathy at the idea, but for some reason he wasn't entirely sure that covered his own building problem with whom he was now sure involved Seamus.'

Harry twitched in concern for that, but felt like he was the only one noticing this little oddity on Seamus part. The others were still looking on in sympathy for the plight.

"That's not just a trait of there's, regrettably," Remus sneered. "Fear makes people do the most foolish things."

Harry still wished those things would stop involving him already.

That caught them off guard, but only for a moment until they realized that it wasn't fear of Voldemort's return on Mrs. Finnegan's part like they'd assumed. Instead it was much worse, and now everyone was as tense as Harry, ready for a fight to break out.

James could feel a biting comment on the tip of his tongue he was just begging to lash out with, no one got to talk to his son like that!

Lily could feel her lip trembling for several reasons, only one of which was anger now. What she wouldn't give for this not to be happening to her child, when he'd never asked for any of these things to happen to him. He'd never gone out of his way and brought any of these people down on him, yet he was constantly used by nearly every damn person in the wizarding world who'd never even bothered to meet him.

No one was currently thinking much kinder.

"Would it really help if I gave details!" Harry hissed furiously. "Do they all really want to know I looked in him in the eye as his body-" he shuddered and broke off, couldn't even continue in anger.

Sirius hesitated, wanting to offer some word of comfort to Harry, they all did, but this wasn't something you could shoot a whisky over and force yourself to keep going. That wasn't a Death Eater you'd seen fall that you could convince yourself was done for some tangible good reason. Harry had been forced to see a brutal murder done all to get to him, and now he was surrounded by children who wanted the gory details without considering what they were asking for.

Harry realized what he'd said aloud, why the others had gone silent and so quietly asked Sirius to keep going. Sirius didn't entirely want to, he still worried that Harry deserved something to be said to him, but he supposed he should give himself something to do until he could come up with that.

Sirius felt a bark of laughter escape him, knowing he'd back Harry in a moment in saying much worse to any of these prats.

"Yet he acts as if he can talk to Harry any way he wishes," Remus snarled.

"Just like Malfoy, can't take what they dish out," James sneered.

"Then he shouldn't have brought her into this," Sirius pointed out with an unfriendly smile.

Lily had a few things she'd like to say as well, but she was at least trying to restrain herself by running her hand through her hair. She knew the boys only saw themselves as backing Harry, but she at least liked to think she wasn't egging on the fight.

"What a thing to walk in on," muttered Remus as he shook his head imagining Ron just walking into the middle of this and how off that must be.

Sirius had his eyes narrowed dangerously, still smarting over Ron's treatment of Harry last year and how he'd claimed to not believe Harry about the start of that stupid tournament. Ron of course knew the truth of this situation, but he supposedly should have known better then, and had apparently spent that time hanging around Dean and Seamus. If Ron actually tried to play peacemaker instead of backing his friend, Sirius would have a few things to say about him next.

No one else understood the almost relieved smile Sirius got there for a moment, but he didn't elaborate, now reading on with just a touch less venom now that Harry had backup.

James half wished he would say it, let Ron put that power to some good use right out of the gate. No one noticed Harry pale a couple extra shades at the mention of a detention, his right hand fidgeting up a storm.

"I do love the way he phrases that," Remus couldn't help but snort. "Not them, but their parents."

"Most children do follow their parents beliefs. Not all of them," Lily amended when she saw Sirius roll his eyes in contempt, "but it's a fair question."

"That's so sad," Lily murmured, but with understanding. She'd rarely confided in her parents all of the gory details she often heard of from Voldemort's reign, but she couldn't bare leaving them completely ignorant either. Not exclusive commentary, some things she couldn't bare sharing about her world in fear it would make her parents fear her like Petunia did. She hadn't her sister to talk to, and after a certain point no friend either, she'd needed someone, and her mother had always been there for her even if she hadn't always understood Lily's tearful yet forced normal conversations.

"He says that like it's a good thing," James had his head cocked to the side in agitation as he assessed that.

"You sure know how to cause a scene Harry," Sirius was full blown smiling at that. "Walk into a room, and suddenly you've got people declaring themselves to your side."

Harry tried to flatten his hair while he couldn't come up with anything to say but gratitude for Neville and his gran.

They were all twitching uncomfortably as the fight broiled down and now Harry was left to his own mind again. This was a passing kid whom they had no real feelings towards other then as one of Harry's dorm mates, but he made a good point. Just how many people was this going to keep happening to? When would Sirius' prediction come true, and Voldemort would finally be revealed? Just how many people would Harry have to keep fighting with just to make himself heard, and how many would come groveling back after the fact to try and sucker back up to him. None of the answers to those questions left anything good in this future.

"He would never," Remus said at once. "Honestly Harry, he's never gotten into contact with you before this summer either. I agree circumstances had changed and you should have been told more, but Dumbledore isn't taking this out on you."

"Then why hasn't he bothered to even look at me, especially at the trial!" Harry persisted, this had clearly lingered with him.

"I'm sure there must be a reason," he tried to sooth, which didn't come across very effectively since he began fidgeting with unease he had no real answer.

Sirius looked between the two before shaking his head in defeat, hoping they got some answers soon, or Harry was going to drive himself crazy soon trying to find answers from himself rather than waiting on them.

"Chapter's over," Sirius groaned in disgust as he hesitated giving the book to Harry. The poor boy already looked so agitated on his first day there, it felt like nothing had been going right for him for ages, and that deeply contemplative look he still had in place made it feel like nothing good was coming.

*Thanks to aaquater for the question!

**Thank maana999 for the question!

  
  



	12. PROFESSOR UMBRIDGE

 

To Roxpox: I don't currently plan on the epilogue being posted, I may change my mind, but as of now it's not on my work list. The topic will come up again during the seventh book.

HPHPHPHP

Harry knew he was supposed to be reading next, but he was reluctant to take the book from Sirius. He could already feel the bad beginning to the start of his latest school year, and it wasn't comforting he couldn't find much in him promising it would get better before it got worse. Still, with nothing else he could think to do, that yearning still present within him to learn all of his memories and be whole prevailed more than any 'feeling' as he cracked open his start.

"Is this something we should be worried about!" Sirius yelped, already trying to scramble madly away from Harry. "A little warning sooner next time!"

"Too late, everyone in here's already round the bend," Remus snorted.

"I resemble that," James snickered, while Lily wanted to protest but still had yet to deny any claims she hadn't begun dating James with all her sanity intact either so didn't press.

Harry rolled his eyes affectionately at the lot of them, he never grew tired of watching them poke fun at these things.

"I could never live with such a thing," Sirius gasped.

"Only because you always have to have the last word," Remus rolled his eyes.

"My point exactly," Sirius proved Moony's own point.

Lily fidgeted with unease that none of them had an actual answer for him. What she wouldn't give just to know this all had to have a happy ending. What exactly had Harry left in his own time after all? Who's to say this didn't drag on for years to come, he had after all arrived clearly in the heat of some battle...and she both wished and was grateful she couldn't dwell on this more.

"What exactly does that look like?" James asked as he eyed Harry.

"Sounded like exasperated, which he probably was already with Seamus' attitude," Lily sighed.

"Just what are they getting up to?" James demanded at once with an eager grin.

"Sounds to me like they're trying to find further test subjects than themselves," Lily arched a brow with trepidation. Testing it on themselves was one thing, but other people? She did suppose she could see the pro's of it, at least while doing this at school they could rely on Madam Pomfrey to fix any screw ups and it was smart to see if anyone other than themselves would have side effects before mass selling their things like they so intended doing...but still, this just felt wrong no matter the good spin she tried putting on it. Then again, she'd never looked into how most normal magical objects were tested and distributed, that was in fact a section she'd be coming to very soon in her work, so this could be interesting at least.

"I like that they put the warning directly below 'virtually painless," Remus snickered.

"Open honesty at least," Sirius said with absolute chipper.

"Hey!" James yelped in protest at once. "Merlin she's as bad as their mother! Who's she to be doing that."

"A prefect," Remus reminded him like his friend had gone temporarily daft. "That really was stupid of them to just post in the common room like that, I am positive that is somehow against school rules."

Sirius kept going as if Remus hadn't even spoken, "I know, leave them to their own devices, it's not affecting her."

Lily really wondered why Remus bothered at some point, and by the look on his face, so did he.

"Who's this they?" Remus did agree with his friends scandalized looks about that. "The sign was stupid on their part, but Hermione really needs to get a grip trying to drag Ron into her problem with the twins."

"I love that Moony always agrees with us," James smirked, while Remus rolled his eyes, and Lily just rubbed her forehead at her idiots.

"I would to," Harry winced, "I've never even had older brothers, but the idea of telling one off sounds ludicrous. Let alone those particular two."

"No," Sirius snorted, "your job is to pretend in front of the teachers to act like you're looking after the first years, and then go about your life like everyone else."

"I think Hermione needs to reread her instruction manual," James agreed.

"They didn't get an instruction manual," Harry frowned in confusion.

"Exactly," Sirius concluded.

"Why didn't you answer?" James said in surprise.

"I was trying to think of how to say everything on my mind, Ron just cut right to the chase," Harry said.

"Sometimes you think too much," Sirius rolled his eyes, he'd never had a problem telling his mates whatever was on his mind.

"Really?" Lily's tone held full disgust. "One of Trelawney's little pets, who believes every ridiculous thing that comes out of that womans mouth, has the gall to claim you a liar?"

"Of all the unbelievers in this, you'd think those of Trelawney's type would enjoy the prospect of more death and mayhem to come," James sniffed angrily.

"Think she'll change her tune the second Trelawney says something about it in class?" Remus grumbled.

"That, or she'll start disbelieving the woman," Sirius shrugged, now looking almost curious to see how this could play out.

"Oh yes, I'm so sure you come up in between the pillow fights and manicures," Lily frowned at him. "Hermione's never shown to be on good terms with them, cut her some slack."

Harry did look properly chagrined for that, he had felt instantly bad for lashing out at Hermione.

Harry looked even more glum now that he couldn't properly apologize to his friends like they deserved. He had indeed been taking every moment to rag on them and could properly realize away from the moments they hadn't deserved much of any of it. He owed his friends a lot, and not just for being there while he vented, very vocally.

Lily at least looked happy for the apology, but Harry didn't look any better, still feeling that growing ache more every day to see his friends again, to know that they were okay.

"I feel like that's a very common occurrence we don't get to hear enough of," Sirius snipped to lighten the mood back up, and it worked as Harry rolled his eyes at him again.

"How does she remember stuff like that verbatim!" Remus went wide eyed in surprise.

"Hermione really is a gem," Lily could only think to answer with pure indulgence.

"I really am surprised she didn't take the moment to rub it in," James rolled his eyes.

Harry frowned right back and said, "she dosen't really that much, considering how much smarter than us she is. She was trying to make a point, not let Ron distract her with an argument."

"We're not talking about Slytherins though, we're talking about people from our own house. Good place to start before moving on," Sirius sighed with some sympathy for what Hermione was saying.

Harry frowned at him in surprise, but then he reflected none of the Marauders had really made it a point to be Slytherin haters other than just the one outstanding student. If Sirius, who'd even had family in the house he was defending, could say such a thing, Harry wished he really had taken some more time at some point to look beyond Malfoy.

Sirius made a face he'd said the exact same thing as Hermione, while James made the exact same face at him for it as well.

"You mean you don't!" James demanded. "Harry, what on earth do you do with all your freetime then?"

Harry couldn't help laughing at their antics again, he couldn't seem to grow tired of watching them make light of this.

"He's got them both there," Remus murmured in agreement.

"That is actually impossible to anyone second year and older," James sighed. None of them had been on more than passing hello's to Hagrid themselves and they would have noticed a thing like this.

Lily was already frowning at this act, it was like Oliver was back again already.

James face puckered with disappointment again. It had obviously not been Harry, nor the twins or he was sure that would have been mentioned, who'd gotten the badge so that had left one of those three girls. Still, he hoped Angelina at least made Harry co-captain or something, he was really hoping his son would get this treat before he left school.

Sirius nodded enthusiastically even as he bounced in place for excitement upon hearing of Quidditch again, it had been gone far too long!

"That's standard though, isn't it? I don't see why she-"

"Shhh!" James hushed his wife as Harry kept going with definite fondness, that was only a mask, as his hand absently began fidgeting again that still no one noticed as he was holding a lofty book.

"You think Ron'll try out!" Sirius yelped with joy.

"He did get a new broom," Remus agreed.

"It's always a thrill to be playing with your friends," James smiled at the thought.

Harry felt the now familiar pain of a memory trying to tell him something for these comments, but he wasn't entirely sure as they seemed very mixed, so he had not a clue if Ron did or not.

Sirius still frowned sadly while Harry couldn't see. He wished he was sending his godson daily owls considering the years he'd gone without regular correspondence, if only as a reminder to his pup there was someone out there for him, it didn't always have to be 'new'. It's not like he was doing anything in that old place anyways but moping about, why couldn't he be sending a veritable books worth of letters to Harry full of anything and everythings?

James shook his head fondly as he still remembered Harry's first interaction with this and asking what a Knut was. His son had come a long ways.

"That's smart, I'll give her," Remus said grudgingly with still plenty of despair.

"I think I just died a little inside!" James yelped in disgust.

The only tiny speck of good Lily could find in that was, "well, least the worst of them should all be gotten out of the way early." When that did nothing to erase anyones disgust, even her own, she also tried, "and we won't have long to wait to hear more about that Umbridge. I'm still confounded of why she's there."

"I'd still be happier pretending none of them exist," Sirius groaned, he didn't need to sit in on that woman's class to even guess she could be any better than that other lot.

"Those ones do," Remus crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Does anyone else smell a regular three day weekend becoming a habit?" Sirius agreed conversationally.

"Why's it cheap?" Harry heard all four of them mutter suspiciously at once.

Harry didn't bother to hide his snicker as he continued.

"So how are they still alive?" Harry asked in genuine concern.

Lily told him of, "well there is a potion you can use to test what a new potion can perhaps do to the human body. It's very tricky, I'll be amazed if the twins learned to do it so early, but I imagine that's how they tested a lot of their products before they really put them to use on themselves looking for antidotes."**

"I'm not sure I'd come to the same conclusion," Remus muttered.

"Damn, it's extra worse cause they brought this up themselves," Sirius groaned.

"She really should have though," James agreed.

"Is it so terrible to ask for backup from him?" Lily asked honestly. She didn't think Hermione should be dragging Ron in either, but now she had, so Ron could at least nod along or something.

"It is if Ron doesn't agree," Remus frowned, "and he's never said anything for or against the twins and how they act, so Hermione shouldn't have been saying anything for Ron."

"She should know that answer better than anyone," James groaned in disgust.

"OWL's, and not the friendly bird kind," Sirius huffed.

"Oh how I wish they were still joking," Remus sighed as he rubbed his nose.

"I knew a Patricia Bishop who had the habit of studying under the chairs," Sirius chimed in. "I don't understand how that helped her study, but she was never without her favorite study spot."

"Gavin Crowley actually pissed himself right before our Transfiguration one," James snickered in remembrance.

"I thought that was because he'd come running up because he'd thought it was Herbology that hour instead," Remus reminded.

Sirius whistled innocently, no one had ever been sure why the boy could get something so confused, and they never had.

All four boys snorted with mirth while Lily shook her head in exasperation at the lot of them.

Remus opened his mouth, winced and shut it, but then realized Harry had seen anyways so managed to say, "our list was made once, extensively, as an end of year project for us. I hope the twins get to reminisce as well one last time." He finished by stammering just a bit, and Harry kept going a bit more loudly to try and erase the awkward moment for them even if he did truly appreciate how much they continued trying to tell him things about their past even when they involved that person.

"Seventh's still worse," Sirius forced out in an attempt to change the subject as well.

"My favorite year though," James stated with a dreamy look at his wife, at least momentarily erasing his own dark thoughts with her flaming red hair. Lily simply gave him an affectionate smile back.

"Well they don't really need them, running their own store," James chuckled.

"I don't understand why," Lily was frowning at the number. "They're clearly smart, why so few."

"Clearly it was because they only looked for what they needed, and didn't try to learn every stupid trivial thing we were supposed to be learning," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I envy them," Remus agreed.

"How would they know what I was thinking?" Sirius asked innocently, while Remus snorted and muttered, "doesn't take a genius to know something you were saying since your first year."

"They're not that stupid," James rolled his eyes, "they'd know better than to be saying that in front of Ron and Hermione."

"Who knows, maybe they thought Harry had told them," Sirius shrugged.

"That was true of their sixth year though," Remus sighed in disappointment. "I really would have hoped they were better on the spot liars."

"Yes, but even running their own business, it would still give them just a little bit better of an edge to have completed school," Lily reasoned what she was sure the twins were doing.

Harry gave a laugh, and honestly had no clue why.

"A travesty that still no one saw coming," Sirius said in disgust.

"That's brilliant," James chuckled.

"Though they seem to have found already that simply making your own needs supplies their demand for others," Sirius snickered.

"Uhoh," all four of them muttered while Harry started flushing in embarrassment.

"As subtle as ever my boy," James snorted.

"No, no," Sirius looked appraisingly at Harry, "try fainting, it's much more dramatic and puts you out of the conversation just as well."

Harry gave him a hard nudge and tried to ignore his still flushed face as he kept going.

"And what is to stop them just lying, or not answering at all?" Remus snorted at such a departure.

"I guess they were worried Hermione would see through it, so they decided to be vague instead," James was still laughing.

"Subtle as drowning someone in your own cauldron," James still hadn't stopped giggling excessively.

"What?" Harry tried to defend, "it had just come up!"

"Don't even try Harry, you won't do any better in here," Lily smiled as the boys kept their shoulders shaking at his attempts.

"That's not entirely accurate, though it is the standard," Lily sighed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked at once as what he found was a real change of subject.

Lily happily explained over the boys grumbling he'd find this out for himself later, "if you hadn't taken the classes you can still take the exams at the end of the year, but you have to do solitary study of three years of material all on your own. That way you're not entirely deprived of the job you want, but Merlin do you have to work extra hard for it."

"Hence earlier complaints of when this career advice happens," Sirius sighed.

"I'm sure all boys think that at some time in their life," James said fondly, he was only just now growing shaky on his own idea of one.

"Just what does she think of as worthwhile?" Lily asked with honest curiosity.

"I'm guessing something to do with politics, her and her views on everything," James said with only a touch of sarcasm that time.

James nodded as if his point had just been made.

"Only because of the most boring teacher to have ever lived, and unlived!" Sirius groaned.

"A truly magical talent in itself I've yet seen replicated," Remus smiled.

"Everyone thinks that at least a dozen times during their school life," Sirius agreed.

"Who won?" James asked.

"Ron, nine out of ten games," Harry sighed. "He kept using names of chess strategies and really stumping me."

"You'd think she'd be used to it by now," Lily giggled.

Sirius gave a wild gasp at once, nearly screeching in Harry's ear, "is she mad!"

Harry managed to push him away in time to save his ear drum as the man kept going, "the only reason anyone survives that class is because of the few dedicated students who take the time to self study and share their own notes instead of listening to Binns at all! Hermione could be doing a real undermining of the schools system to be refusing to help this trend!"

"I'm sure some Ravenclaws would pin her down and steal them if it came to that," Remus reassured with backlit eyes.

Lily noticed, opened her mouth to ask, but Harry was trying to keep going while his hearing was still intact.

"Ah guilt trips, always a saving grace," James nodded.

"We did at first," Harry defended half heartedly.

"Though I'm positive that ended before you and Hermione even became friends," Sirius snorted, to which Harry didn't bother denying, more like it had ended in the first week.

"I think that's the nicest thing he's ever said to her," Remus chuckled.

"Compliments will get you everywhere," Sirius agreed wisely.

"I'm sure no one was arguing that point," James huffed.

Lily's face brightened as much as Harry's for this happening again, though for an entirely different reason as she adored hearing about Harry's first crush. The boys just couldn't seem to find a reason to stop their laughing this chapter, and weren't trying very hard.

"Agony is surely the wrong word," Remus tried to say with a straight face.

"More like spectacle," Sirius didn't even bother as he finished.

"There's the bright side!" James chipped in.

"Did she expected him to live in it?" Sirius asked while Harry managed to nudge him even harder, trying to read as fast as possible now.

"That's good, start casual," Sirius nodded, while Harry was now eyeing a pillow with deep contemplation as he forced himself to get through this.

Then they all winced as that hadn't explicitly crossed their mind, but at least Harry's face returned to normal color as the boys stopped smirking for a moment.

"There's Ron, always managing to break awkward silence," Remus approved around James already snorting again.

"Merlin, least my friends weren't this bad," James winced on Harry's part for Ron's poor choice there.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily rolled her eyes, "your friends are just as bad as you were." Though she finished with pitying eyes on Harry, "but Ron really isn't helping there."

"Least someone there has an idea of what's going on," Remus giggled.

"I do believe that though," Sirius nodded, happily switching topics to Quidditch much to Harry's relief.

"Now there's an accomplishment," James laughed.

"I really don't see that one as being so bad," Remus said fairly.

"That's because we have comparisons of Prongs many worse times," Sirius reminded. "In most kids cases, that really wasn't the best."

"And what do you know about that?" Lily snorted, "you don't fall under anything resembling usual."

Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate while Harry cut them both off, he'd had enough practice.

"There's the bright side," Remus nodded eagerly.

"More than Lily ever did," James said with a tragic look at his wife.

"Trust me Potter, you would not have enjoyed the reasons at those times I was getting you alone," Lily tried to say in a threatening voice, but everyone turned away when it came out too flirtatious so they wouldn't have to see James' face.

"Hadn't even crossed my mind she'd think that," Sirius frowned at the idea. "You think too much."

"So you keep saying," Harry muttered, wishing his thoughts would be displayed a little less at least on this topic.

"At least your reasoning is sound," Remus said happily, "so I do agree, I think she's got a thing for you back."

"Yeah?" Harry asked with honest hope. The idea was certainly lingering in his mind, he just knew his crush on Cho had to go somewhere this year, but it really was only mild interest. For some reason as he gave a glance at his ring, nothing was sticking...

Remus didn't want to get his hopes up too much in case he was wrong as he gave a simple, "sure," as response, but Harry seemed happy enough as he kept going, even onto Snape's class.

"And that's really saying something," James snorted.

"I think that's their version of flirting," Sirius muttered as he eyed the couple who were now holding hands.

"I am convinced that's because they're all transfixed by the proportions of his nose regarding the rest of his face," Remus muttered under his breath, causing Sirius to snort.

"Ooh, so scary," James rolled his eyes, while Lily gained a fresh scowl for the new threats against these children.

"Nice to change things up a bit," Harry muttered with disgust.

"I have never wanted Harry to fail an exam more than I do right now," Sirius said at once.

Lily worked furiously, but couldn't even find it in herself to argue. James was the only one who felt disappointment for the statement, as he knew full well Harry would need that OWL to get into Auror training...two more years of Snape in one hand or his son's future in the other, it really was a nasty toss up.

"What I just heard is, I don't have to care about this class for a whole year because there's no way in Merlin I'll be passing it anyways," Remus muttered while Sirius started snickering again, the back of his mind already waiting to hear Slughorn calling him out any second for these flashbacks he could appreciate.

Lily smiled sadly to herself, thinking back to the end of their fourth year and how their fights had grown so bad over the years that by this point Potions was the only safe ground they had left. They'd discovered this one while doing a little pre studying for next year and had a fun conversations about how Muggleborns must have heard of this one at some point and how it wound up featuring in some of their fairy tales. Severus had made a few jokes about the ridiculousness of their so called cure for this...and now she just wanted to walk away for a moment and again feel the loss of that friend who was never coming back.

"She still does that eh?" James asked with mild disgust. "She does know by now there is no winning that man's approval, I know I tried all my life and-" he stopped as Lily released his hand to smack his head.

"A first for him I'm sure," Sirius rolled his eyes, wondering how much Snape loathed Hermione more than Harry for being so good when she was a Muggleborn.

"Ah the disgusting face of triumph I've had seared into my brain," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Butterbeer," Sirius launched at once as if he'd practiced by heart. "I'm thinking of starting my own brewery, and I'm naming it after you, Aarsehole Ale."***

"I would not drink that on a dare," James told him with a straight face.

"But it has some real potential for future carnage if bottled correctly," Remus concluded.

No one in here could claim surprise even if they were all sick of hearing about this.

"When it suits me," James clearly thought he was being smart.

Harry muttered something about his hatred of such a stupid detail ruining his whole potion, while Lily was muttering something very similar about his horrid teaching methods. As if he'd never blown a potion in his face the first time he'd tried something new.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Remus found it genuinely fascinating Snape had known exactly what was wrong with the potion in such complicated steps.

Lily's face was quickly flushing red with heated anger all over again at him utterly ruining Harry's attempt like this, what she wouldn't give to whack him upside the head with his own potion book for starters.

The boys were more unfazed by something they'd lived with through their whole childhood, even if they were itching to throw a curse or two at old Snivellus picking on one of theirs again.

"Yes, but neither of them are named Potter," James seethed with Harry.

"I am surprised I detect a hint of caring," Sirius spotted.

"I don't actually like failing, even his classes," Harry grumbled, though his ire was less so than it had been in the moment, as he was starting to get the feeling this was by far not the worst thing to happen to him today, and that was somehow not leaving a good feeling.

"I accept this as the irony Snape deserved with lesser pleasure," Remus sighed.

"Which is at its most low of that man," Lily was still muttering threats under her breath, this wasn't coming out much more audibly. "Treating you like this when you've done nothing to him, just because of how his father acted, they are two people dammit."

"Oh such sweet delusions I never bothered indulging while I had the chance," Sirius sighed.

"Her optimism really is adorable sometimes," Remus groaned.

"In my doubts that you'll ever get it, I still won't swallow it then," Sirius sniffed.

"It would still be nice if he shared it, show why he trusted him, not even in detail, just-" Remus cut himself off with a sigh that most likely they wouldn't be getting any of this.

That caught the others off guard as Lily said with a bit of rebuke, "Harry-"

"It was their third argument, that morning!" Harry defended, albeit more lackluster than when he'd snapped at his friends in person. "And just after Snape, I have limits."

"Sounded like you were used to it though," Remus sounded more puzzled than anything.

"You've had a bit of a short fuse lately with everyone," James agreed, "but mostly it's been coming off on them."

Harry had nothing to say to any of them, because he knew they were right. There was a terrible swirling feeling building in the back of his mind, and the moment he acknowledged how long it had been there it almost overwhelmed him right then. It took all of the self control he'd been having to learn so far not to let the memory sweep him whole, but something of all these bad feelings really was leading him to a very dark idea that involved this year... he was cut free of his thoughts by the words on the page thankfully grabbing his attention then, saving him from having to come up with a proper response.

"I can see that," Remus said fairly, "though no matter how unpractical now, I'd suggest in future just walking away and letting them have it out."

"I usually do," Harry sighed, before perking up slightly and adding on for fun, "one time I timed it and they hadn't noticed I'd left for almost the whole weekend...though now I'm thinking I should have been offended by that rather than laughing it off with Neville," he finished still with a goofy smile in place.

"How long after the Yule Ball was this?" Lily asked, only just suppressing her own laughter.

"The next weekend," he didn't seem to understand her implied tone as he shrugged and moved on.

"A daunting challenge for the man, it should keep him busy for five whole minutes," James chuckled.

"Harry, adding more torture to your life does not make anything easier," Lily groaned.

"Don't know what you're talking about Lily, this is usually a hoot," Sirius was already grinning in anticipation for the remarks to come.

"He didn't jump a few?" James demanded. "What do you lot do with your life?"

"Clearly nothing as spectacular as you," Harry chuckled.

"For twenty minutes, or seconds?" Sirius asked.

"Thought that's what friends were for?" Remus demanded.

"That's certainly what Ron and Hermione seem to use each other for," Lily seemed to agree.

"Well it's not as if he can say that to them," James sighed.

"Snape no, but I've got a few things Seamus could find, it's all the better they share the dorm, though that does limit some of the-"

Sirius was forced to cut off by Harry falling victim to Lily's begging eyes for him to keep going.

"Says something about your character you can feel both at once at least," Remus snorted lightly.

James was already making pointed yawning noises.

"I do so love it when the teachers talk about how stupid the exams are," Sirius chuckled.

"Not so much when she finishes on a high horse," Lily sniffed.

"I'm sure that has some deep meaning interpretations-" Remus began lightly.

"About scissors out to kill the world and his grandmother the supreme ruler of hats, yeah, I can see that happening any day now," James agreed.

Causing four collective snorts of laughter, James recovering from his laugh at once to demand, "just what the bloody hell is in that book of yours for desserts to be coming after you?"

"Oh, because scissors and grandmothers is so much better," Harry reminded.

"That's as easy as the last assignment I've heard," Remus chuckled. "In fact all I've heard from this class is make stuff up."

"I don't exactly have a wide imagination," Harry sighed, "I run out very fast and then get frustrated, while I know she must know I reuse a few things about dieng. Probably why I've never gone far in that class."

"Yes, that's why, not because she wouldn't bother putting an interest in someone she has slated to die," Sirius cackled.

"Ah the never ending complaint of homework," Remus nodded in agreement.

"If Moony wasn't above giving homework than no one is," James sniffed.

Remus gave him a wounded look as he demanded, "are you saying if she dosen't, I'll be replaced?"

"I'd fight for you," Sirius gave him a mock pat on the shoulder, "I'll take your lame essays over that pink cardigan any day."

All three boys continued laughing at Harry's constant description of that, it really didn't grow old with how much sarcasm Harry infused into saying this.

Harry was starting to fidget uneasily though. He'd just had all of his least favorite classes back to back, and still this one felt the most foreboding of all.

Sirius was crinkling his nose in disgust at once as he demanded, "I really want to know which primary school sucked the life out of her! That's degrading to the first years, let alone this nonsense!"

Lily had some instinct to scold about proper manners, but stopped herself because Harry was really starting to worry her. He sounded more hostile to this woman he'd yet to have a conversation with than he had in all his times speaking of Snape.

"Not one of you got creative with that?" James pouted at such poor showmanship.

"Probably got lost on where to begin," Remus offered. "Such as, good morning Um, oh what was it again? Or even hem, hem, sorry had to clear my throat before I could get that out, there seems to be a frog stuck in there, or how about-"

"Remus!" Lily finally cut in loud enough over the laughing boys, at least trying to hid her own smile while he batted his eyes innocently.

"True, but that follows in most classes," Sirius sighed.

Harry stopped, mouthed the words again, and felt his bad feelings ratcheting up all over again.

Everyone else looked just as properly disgruntled for that statement, Remus muttering, "really, the teaching there has been inconsistent, but please tell me she's not going to be doing this for all students, especially the NEWT ones."

Harry could find nothing in him to argue saying otherwise.

"I think I'd already take Lockhart over this," James huffed.

"Speak for yourself," Remus grumbled. He had a predisposition to dislike her as well thanks to Harry, but nothing could be worse than that moron, right?

Lily's face was puckering with concern as she asked, "really, not that any of that is strictly a bad thing to be teaching them, but that was it?"

"Hopefully she'll adjust those in the fortnight, it shouldn't even take them that long to drag through something so tedious," James offered.

"Argh," Sirius snarled outright this time. "She's really going to insist upon that for every question. Even we'll start to run out of alterations for that stupidity."

"Best to start storing them up and only dishing them out when they're really needed," Remus agreed.

"I digress," James winced in horror, "even Lockhart had the decency to read them himself and keep up the stupid show, I'm sure that made it go by faster than self inflicting this dribble."

That gave everyone in here a nice jolt of surprise. They'd yet to recall a moment where Hermione had directly disobeyed a teacher like this. Harry certainly found his interest spiraling back up even if it didn't erase his bad feelings for how this was going to end.

"Well that part's not so surprising, I wouldn't even be surprised if she's read it already like all her others," Remus rolled his eyes.

"She must have some limit," James balked. "Even something so dull as that must stop her."

"That is really saying something, one silence is beating out another," Sirius chuckled.

"Well if that isn't a bit pompous," Lily shook her head at that.

They all shifted uncomfortably in their seat. They'd noticed this of course, but had been hoping it just hadn't come up quite yet...

"Ah, practice," Remus pointed out in a clearly 'duh' tone.

"Can we do some on her," Sirius was already muttering. Not a good sign if he was already initiating threats on this woman Lily noted, but she also just couldn't bring herself to rebuke him either, she'd been in this class for just a few minutes and was already grating on their nerves.

Harry gave an awkward laugh for remembering a few instances of being attacked at places he never would have thought possible.

All five of them gave a raised brow for that. At some point none of them would even be surprised if Hermione decided to teach the class, it would make more sense than half the choices they'd heard of so far.

"I thought it said you already had your hand raised," James reminded, his face somewhere between wanting to mock this situation and already realizing this was getting bad, fast.

"I put it down when I started talking," Harry muttered.

"You're supposed to be trained inside so you expect it outside," Remus genuinely looked confused at trying to explain this, he'd never thought he'd have to, to a teacher of this subject!

"Is she actually arguing the point, saying she won't!" Lily demanded.

"I, she can't be that dense," James tried to deny, but at the bleak look on Harry's face saying his mother was right on the money, they all fell into a confounded silence as it really hit them just what Harry had been stuck with this year. Even their plethora of inept teachers sprinkled in with the few good ones had never gotten this bad!

Remus couldn't even pretend to block out the sound of the, underserved in his opinion, protest around him since Harry was so vocally agreeing. He just wished they wouldn't as it wouldn't do any good. Thankfully as the woman wasn't present and all they could do was shout angrily about this, it didn't last too long, but there was no longer any doubt in anyone's mind. This woman had surpassed Lockhart already as worst teacher, and was right up there with insane Jr. as far as wanting to be kept around.

Remus had lost a couple of shades in fear of realizing he was so well known to the Ministry, never something a werewolf should be encouraged to do, but even such a comment as this managed to make him feel just slightly better. The kids had still thought he'd been better than Moody?

"Well, I mean, at some point they're not wrong," Harry muttered.

"And it happened to save a very important life, so this transgression was overlooked," James huffed, not particularly fond of defending the madman who'd tried to do his son in, or one of them at least, but that still felt better than agreeing with anything this woman had said.

Sirius literally applauded his logic, and no one could think of a good reason to stop him for a moment.

"Oh yes, because after school you're just supposed to be a mindless drone to the Ministry apparently," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Lily yipped. "In whose right mind do you expect anyone to learn without hands on practice at some level?"

"Clearly this one is as off the wagon as Jr., but in a completely different way," Sirius felt repulsed at the idea as he rounded on Harry, "just how do you manage to get two insane people back to back?"

Harry was muttering something about how it didn't quite end any time soon, but chose not to really reply.

"So they're not supposed to be prepared at all?!" James snarled at the same time Harry had kept going.

Lily gave a soft breath of laughter like the others for the comparison as the two smiled at each other, but it didn't quite erase how empty it always made her feel to see her boy already having to conform to any kind of war like mind. No, he shouldn't have to be prepared for what was out there, because she kept hoping there wouldn't be anything out there. No matter how naive, she'd always wish for that.

All four of them shivered, though not for the same reason as Harry's classmates had just done. The idea of Voldemort inside their school, actually attacking their own classmates at the time had filled them with dread in their final year. Now Harry was having to experience the idea, two years earlier...

"I'm confident it's more to do with her lack of a brain than any actual imbedded fear like the rest," Remus muttered.

"I don't think arguing technicalities will help you right now," Lily shook her head softly even as she was watching the book intently, on tenterhooks to throw something at this woman for her son even if he was doing a superb job defending himself.

Harry did not want to look back up at them as he said this with just as much force as he had to Umbridge. He did not want to again see the mingled fear and pride on them for this having been true. It helped to keep his eyes focused on the pages as he truly encountered his first person who was flat out calling him a liar, that wasn't just some other student. This was someone who worked for the Ministry, the government he should have been relying on to help him get people to understand this, not some woman who continued addressing him as if a naughty child about the worst experience of his life.

No one could ignore it this time, Harry's right hand shook so hard the book nearly fell from his grip, the ghost of a burning sensation crossing those faded white words more intensely than ever before. Harry steadied himself though, and just looked on in confusion for a moment before forcing himself to ignore the moment. Whatever that odd marking of his was, it was clearly fixing to be revealed, but he just couldn't imagine in what conjuncture to this any more than the others.

"Because that makes it all better," Sirius' blistering tone was coming out more dangerous the more sugary Umbridge's tone had gone. Harry was already sure he would love to have put them in a quiet room together at some point, though it wouldn't have remained quiet long.

Remus drew the simple letter o out in honest anticipation to see how far Harry was going to go with this woman.

"I would have taken anything over 'defensive of Umbridge,' so," Lily's nodd came out in a jerky movement of some kind of agreement to this.

James flinched at the intensity of Harry's tone, even as he sat forward in his seat, an ugly look set in place to hear the government disgrace away this death.

Harry's voice snapped colder than any cracking whip as he forced himself to read out that lie. Though it truly was of some comfort to him he could feel the anger bleeding from those around him, the support and backup he could feel that hadn't been lacking from his friends per say, but they'd been sitting in more stunned silence than anything.

"I care," James muttered as his knee started bouncing with unease. Every gesture this woman had made so far just screamed he was not going to like what was coming next. Sometimes a prank wasn't enough to get his point across, and he could already feel this woman deserved far worse for whatever she was going to subject his son to.

That stopped Harry cold in surprise. He glanced up but saw they understood this no more than he had. What exactly did this woman think McGonagall was going to do about this?

Still, Lily managed to just find one bright spot in this, as finally Harry was getting away from her class even for a moment.

"What I would pay them to start making it a trend and rally all the students to get themselves kicked out of her class," Sirius sighed.

"I suppose there's a time and place for everything," Remus winced at that poltergeist.

"I find this an excellent use of our previous point," James grinned had turned a bit vicious. "We most certainly do need to learn to protect ourselves inside this castle. Why don't we have Peeves step inside the class for a moment to demonstrate."

"It certainly couldn't do too much harm to watch that Umbridge woman see the vitality of defensive magic being used practically," Sirius' tone held just one soft edge of a growl, while everyone was envisioning who would win in this fight against Umbridge and Peeves, and greatly enjoying the results right now.

"Should I feel honored I've gotten more than one song from him?" Harry grumbled.

"If I say yes, will it cheer you up at all?" Sirius asked.

"No," Harry said flatly.

"Oh, well then," Sirius rolled his eyes as he tried to act affronted, but mostly they were all sad Harry wasn't even playing along anymore. That's what being in one class with that woman had already done to him, they were all starting to become terrified of future results.

"All the flashbacks must be bombarding her at once," James said a little wistfully, at least he couldn't claim he'd ever been kicked out of class for getting into an argument with a teacher like that, it had always been intentional.

Sirius did perk up though as he pointed out, "though major credit to Harry, I don't think any of us got this accomplishment on our first day with someone new. That earns you major credit pup."

Harry still wasn't reacting, his mind too pestered on the lies that woman insisted upon, he couldn't think of anything past that for now.

"It means been given the golden ticket to leave class and come see the higher power, I'm sure you're familiar with it," Remus snarled under his breath.

"Well don't take this out on here," James couldn't help the instant scolding that popped out of him, but he'd never hear of someone being disrespectful to his favorite teacher and react otherwise.

Harry's tone was finally edging out of hostile now as he looked around at James in surprise for the tone, before he quickly nodded with chagrin at his own actions, knowing he'd do the same thing to someone else he respected so much.

Causing all the boys cackles to sooth back, at least they knew Harry meant it. They'd just had one too many instances of wannabe Death Eaters making some snide comment to their head of house for the reaction not to be instinct by now.

Remus began chuckling as he saw a shining moment of James in Harry right there. Absolutely no shame or regret in those actions.

Causing all of five of them to do a double take in surprise before titterings of laughter broke out for such a comment being inserted. She really could always keep them on their toes.

"Still one of my favorite moments to date," James nodded with unease as he tried to guess where she could be going with this. "Surely she's not going to creating something else just for Harry to join as a reward."

"I will come up to the school and hug her in thanks if so," Sirius snickered.

"I'm sure she's had plenty of practice, all the times she's seen my face like this," Sirius nodded wisely, this one catching them so off guard James and Remus actually laughed for a second before remembering to smack him for that.

"That seems to get through to you best," Lily smirked.

"Keeps things serious between us," Harry said, giving an obvious look to his godfather as a clear way of apologizing for being snappy with him before as well.

Sirius took the opportunity in stride as he instantly replied, "I'll always keep things between us pup!"

"But, Quidditch!" James instantly protested as he recalled Angelina's exact words about Friday.

Lily smacked him upside the head as she snapped, "priorities James."

"Did she have to set it for then," he continued quietly.

"Oh no, she couldn't," Remus frowned. "Dumbledore doesn't even interfere in those things, it's too undermining to the teachers."

"In this case, I think he really should make an exception," Sirius had his nose crinkled in disgust of what this woman was doing already.

"You were about Norbert too and still took that detention without such a fuss," Sirius tried to poke fun.

"This is far different and you know it," Harry sighed, clearly still not in a good enough mood to be poking back.

"No to the first, but the second could use some work," James agreed.

"Learn to pick your battles mate," Remus disagreed, "I'm agreeing with all of that."

"Never quite seemed to catch that lesson," James shrugged without remorse.

"Is that supposed to be a peace offering?" Harry asked, wondering at the insistence of these things.

"Just her way of trying to keep things polite," Sirius shrugged.

"I wouldn't have thought anyone had until Hermione proved me otherwise," Remus rolled his eyes at the question.

"That really is hurtful," Harry pouted down at the final page. "As if I couldn't come to that conclusion on my own after that class!"

"Well, she's not wrong," Remus laughed as he held his hand out for the book.

Harry hesitated in giving it to him, that nasty tingling feeling still hadn't left the back of his hand where the faint white scars were, and he was really starting to dread learning the meaning of those.

HPHPHPHPHP

Okay, evil laughter and sarcasm aside, hope you all enjoyed this one, even though it's the next one I know you've all been begging for since the start of this book! Hope you can keep yourselves together tell then, thanks as always for the constant love and support in the meantime!

*I know I pointed this out in the last book, but the inconsistency still stands so I'm going to keep doing it. September 2nd 1995 was a Saturday, not a Monday.

** Idea offered to me by Narutofan8762, thanks!

***Suggested insert by a new friend of mine, Alice October, thanks for the ever loving sarcasm, which you know is my favorite.

  
  



	13. DETENTION WITH DOLORES

 

This book in particular really was one where I wanted to add in Ron and Hermione for some of their commentary on things, but I couldn't justify it for the whole series so they got left out, like Peter for the second book before. I don't regret it as I ultimately made this decision not to overcrowd, but man were there a few moments in this chapter I could have had some fun with.

To Katie: Don't apologize, I always do respect differences of opinion, and we happen to be of one now. I don't think age should define what you're told, but how you handle a situation. I've met fifteen year olds far more mature in life than eighteen year olds, and I most certainly would have told that fifteen year old something important about their life rather than the one of age. Harry is most definitely mature enough to handle the information being withheld from him, and I really believe Sirius thinks that more than anything, not that he is James. Do I see sometimes that Sirius may be wishing for both, James and Harry at once, yes, but that wasn't the point of that argument. Thank you kindly for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying!

HPHPHPHPHPHP

Lily watched Remus flip to the next chapter with a sense of foreboding. She couldn't help but notice a recurring pattern that every thirteenth chapter of these books seemed to be an extra stab of worse for her son. She supposed that mirror had been a bit of good and bad, but that diary and the time they'd all watched Sirius truly act like a madman, then of course the start to that wretched Tournament. She already could feel a burning hatred for Umbridge, what worse thing could happen this time?

"Now that's saying something," James murmured as he shifted uneasily in his seat, he wasn't looking forward to Harry's reaction to this.

Sirius huffed and muttered a bit about people who weren't them. He'd always loved attention, but this was ridiculous on the student's part.

"Who says they did though?" Remus was frowning with sympathy. "Fudge is the perfect example of that, he was there when this was first being told and he flat out refused to hear this was true. The rest of the student body could have honestly been thinking the same thing as him, and then the Prophet just went and confirmed it."

Harry's face was flushing with anger as he fought so hard not to argue back, having to keep the very firm thought they were on his side and not to go at them like he had been towards Ron and Hermione. It was getting harder by the moment as he remembered the screams, what they all saw as he reappeared with Cedric's body! How could they just write that off! When Harry didn't respond, Remus didn't push him for an answer as he kept going.

"A treasured friend, walking away from dessert," James mumbled.

Lily was fidgeting in place for a multitude of reasons. Wanting to scold Harry again for talking to his friends that way, wanting to back him up because clearly the majority of that school needed their heads checked in thinking anything else had happened considering the evidence. Yet she could do neither of those things, and so was left to sit and squirm some more, ratcheting her frustrations further every moment.

The Marauders exchanged an anxious look, but not one of them could come up with a comment to make Harry smile away this problem. They'd thought things would be getting better, at least a little more light now that he was back at school, but Harry didn't have the misadventures they made sure to get themselves up to, so it was getting rather hard to play off these very real problems of his.

Sirius at least had seven years worth of material to talk about this all he wanted. "You know, I really pity those who had a cat allergy. Pomfrey kept them alive and everything, but there were at least a dozen of them in the common room alone at one time. Why are any pets besides owls allowed?"

"I always thought they were a bit of home comfort," Lily shrugged, though she'd never been allowed one until James got Hickory, her doormate had a cat that while wily, Lily adored, and in Mary's first few homesick week like all first years went through, seemed to be some comfort.

Sirius could have happily protested other aspects of this and kept going for hours, but then he realized the whole reason he was doing this was being ignored. Harry was gazing at nothing restlessly, rotationally rubbing at the back of his hand and flattening his hair. Clearly something was fixing to happen that was winding him up, even more worrying than his weighing thoughts about Hagrid or the rest of the start to his school year, so a small miracle occurred in that he silenced himself and let Remus keep going.

Harry wasn't comforted he felt the same in here, though it was hardly past lunch. Having eaten a very early meal before meant he shouldn't expect a break for some time, though he knew he could get one if he asked. It was very tempting, but he knew it was really because he just didn't want to hear of something coming, so it's not as if he could delay that forever.

"I'm confident your specific year was not on his mind when she was taken on," Remus chuckled.

"Yeah Harry, not everything's about you," James agreed.

"You know, in the book about your life," Lily rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

When Sirius realized Remus wasn't going to react to that, Sirius decided to do it for him by lifting Remus' hand and pressing it to his heart as he tried to mimic his voice, "that hurt! Now I'm going to crawl away with a broken heart and sob in the corner-"

"Stop that you idiot," Remus finally tugged his arm free by whacking his hand with the book in his other.

Sirius rubbed at the spot, it was a big book, but he'd finally gotten a grin out of Harry for his antics so it had been worth it.

"Sadly, we can't blame this mess on him anymore than we could Lockhart," Remus groaned. "His last two appointees were clearly personal favors, and he's already run out of those with some stupendous consequences. I wish I was honestly more surprised the Ministry finally stepped in and tried to offer 'help' with this, and since he clearly couldn't' find anyone else to do the job," he trailed off with a sad sigh this had to fall on Harry.

"I'm glad one of you caught that," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"You didn't mention it," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Thought it went without saying in here how much we'd hate that," James shrugged.

"Merlin, you must be sick of them to rather be doing homework than listen to a classic," Sirius frowned in sympathy for Harry.

"I really was feeling exhausted after just the one day," Harry sighed, still rubbing in frustration at his forehead, his scar they all noticed. It left them all as uneasy as he was clearly feeling, as any rubbing at this from before never meant anything good.

"Suppose it is best to get the worst out of the way first," Sirius groaned.

"I'm sure she was just stunned at such a thing happening," James snickered.

"Does he really never bother to crack open his own text first?" Remus sounded honestly amused.

"Why would he bother when he has a talking one right next to him most times," Harry chuckled.

"Merlin, that would actually terrify the piss out of teachers," Lily yipped in concern, she knew she'd be freaking out if she hadn't heard the reason for this.

"I'm sure it must come with some sort of warning label, be sure to tell your friends what you're fixing to do so they can give some loaded excuse and escort you out for the teacher." Sirius shrugged.

"Something harmless, like oh he skipped breakfast," James agreed, his eyes alight with fascination at these twins yet again.

"Out of the pair, I consider Hermione more intimidating anyways," Sirius snickered. "Best let her get her word in, Ron does much better keeping an eye on things."

Remus snorted hard at the two just carrying on without a single care of her. That was a bit dumb on their part, even without all they knew about Hermione, you'd think the twins would find her some form of a threat.

"I really don't find that the point right now," Lily shook her head.

"Why's that?" Sirius did look confused at this choice. "Should have prepared them, better results when they ask how soon they felt the effects coming on."

"I can see the benefit," Remus said grudgingly, "if they expected it, then they would have been waiting for the feeling, and that could have preemptively made the feeling occur."

"They're probably doing both scenarios with different groups," James concluded.

"Well yes, that is the bright side," James chuckled.

The back of Harry's hand tingled worse than ever, and he began rubbing at that instead of his scar for once in remembered pain as he gazed down at the white mark. It was extremely faded, clearly years old and the words no longer legible, but he could feel now more than ever he was about to get an answer to this scar, and he knew he wasn't going to like it.

"Hermione really is making a spectacle of herself," Sirius shook his head, none of them noticing Harry's moment.

Harry was thankfully distracted from his moment anyways by that vivid mental image while those around him snickered as they visualized it.

The scandalized looks on everyone normally would have been enough to make someone laugh, but that really had been too far on Hermione's part. First trying to pin the brothers against each other last year, now this, she truly was interfering in far too much outside of her friend's brother's lives with that statement. The Marauders knew they would have lost their temper in that moment had it been them. Privacy was of the utmost importance to them considering what they got up to in school, and if Regulus had ever tried a thing like that against them, even if it would have no effect, it would not have gone over well.

Harry gave a hard laugh for the dramatics he wished the others would join in on. Hermione was still his friend even if she was being too heavy handed right then, and those angry faces all for her really were making him uncomfortable.

"Course it is," James' scowl had not lessened one little bit.

"Dad," Harry couldn't help but snap at him for that.

"She should know better than anyone what it is to keep to themselves," James was not backing down. "They're not hurt and this really doesn't have anything to do with her."

"She's not here to defend herself," Harry wasn't letting go either, "and I'm sure if she was she'd be saying it was her job as Prefect to keep an eye on them, and not let them go too far."

"They haven't even gotten close," Lily rolled her eyes as she jumped in, "and James quit having a go at Hermione because of everything she does."

Her glaring at the two managed to put a stop to them for now even if they both did look wrinkled.

"I'm sure that was the best position available at the time," Remus muttered.

"Please don't tell me she's going at him next," James huffed for Lily alone, "I wouldn't ask Sirius to back me up if I was having a go at you."

"It's not entirely the same," Lily sighed in his ear, "her heart's in the right place, she's just looking out for those little kids."

"The twins aren't going to hurt them," he insisted, "and Hermione's nosing into people's business."

"She always has though, and you thought it was plenty of fun against Rita last time," Lily softly rebuked. "You can't pick and chose when it's fun to watch her do this."

"Different situation," he began to hiss back, but she raised a brow which made him stop and realize he was saying exactly what she just had. He crossed his arms and finished with a huff, while Remus had been ignoring their not very subtle whispered argument.

"Wow, good to know Ron's found a way to distract Hermione from homework, could come in handy for the future," Sirius chuckled on Ron's behalf.

"I'm already at that level," Remus huffed.

There was a long, heavy moment of silence before Sirius burst out laughing. Remus joined in, but there was a hard edge as he kept staring down at this new act of hers.

"This is another level of conceited," James didn't look remotely amused at the idea. "Just where did she get the idea that she can set other people's creatures free? That's like if someone took Crookshanks from her and tried to set it loose in the wild."

"You did just equate house-elves to animals," Lily said grudgingly, very clearly trying not to sound accusing, but failing a bit. "Honestly, would it be so bad if they worked for these families voluntarily rather than slavery. If the house-elves wanted to come back then of course Dumbledore would let them, but now they'd be there because they clearly wanted to be, that could teach Hermione a very important lesson."

"You lot are missing the point," Sirius brushed his hair out of his face impatiently as his mirth filled eyes looked on at all of them not getting the joke. "This is all pointless on her part, because it won't work! Even when they do pick those up, they'll throw them in the bin, or the laundry, or lost and found! Hermione's not their master, she can't release them. This girl has no clue what she's doing."

"She's clearly going after Harry's idea and tricking them into freedom," Remus agreed, "but she seems to have missed the important detail of Malfoy having been the one to do so for Dobby."

"Well now I'm just curious if Harry points this out," James released a grudging laugh, "because he clearly hadn't thought of this," seeing the contemplative look on his face as he realized this at the same time as them.

James still couldn't erase a scowl for her arrogance coming through yet again. Exactly how much did Hermione know of these creatures? They hadn't heard much of her looking into this past her disgust of them not being mentioned in history books, and Harry clearly didn't know as he wasn't keeping good tabs on Hermione's adventures of this.

Sirius was still snickering as he knew it made no difference either way, while at least James looked appeased with Ron's attempts.

"They invented this thing, it's called a textbook," Lily said conversationally. "Has he never bothered to crack it open before now?"

"Never had to, Hermione's really always been around when we do our homework, and she helps a lot more than she admits," Harry shrugged.

"How do you lot survive when you weren't speaking in third year, or even when she wasn't around at the end of your second?" Sirius couldn't help but laugh at Harry's sheepish face.

"A lot of her notes," he muttered, "she wrote ahead a lot, and we filched them from her when she left them out a lot at night."

"Well at least that's some form of study, even if it is from her rather than the source she got it from," Remus snorted.

"Probably a good thing," Lily sighed, "as I doubt he was going to be saying anything too pleasent less than a day later."

None of the boys entirely agreed, a good fight actually could have done some good in relieving Harry's stress, as they'd found in their youth, though usually that was geared more towards their pranks than an argument.

"It's nice to have a someone pointing out the bright side on their end as well," Remus smiled.

James was still shaking his head in disbelief at Hermione's naivety showing at every aspect of this situation.

Harry was the only one who managed to resist a snort of laughter with great restraint.

"I'm sure that was his goal honestly," Sirius snickered.

"All of the teachers will," Lily sighed, "as if we couldn't remember without them adding to the stress of it all."

"That's implying he has any thoughts though," James said loudly before his friend could get halfway through a joke.

"Prongs!" Sirius spluttered protest at once.

"Not as fun when someone else does it, eh?" James smirked with utter pleasure.

"Isn't this what started the war, and at some point we just let him win," Remus groaned.

"I have far more material, I got eleven years of making this shit up before you lot could even get a chance getting started," Sirius huffed, a challenging look still gleaming in his eyes promising payback to his best friend.

"You are depressing me with all of these flashbacks I'm getting," Remus groaned.

"When did my middle name change to application?" Sirius demanded practically before Remus had finished the word with a hard look at James.

James was now resisting the urge to get up and strangle him.

"Aww," Lily uttered sadly, wishing she could pass the poor boy along her notes or something. This wasn't her best class either, but at least she'd held confidence while trying.

They all smiled widely for that, often times just instilling confidence in someone could help them more with their work, and they hoped that helped Neville. In that moment, Harry honestly would have bet on it.

"I think Ron needs to make a chart to help him maintain when he should be insulting Hermione, and be sure to keep homework help times in big red letters to avoid that," Remus was trying hard not to laugh as he said.

"That is far too much work, he may as well just do the homework by that point," James rolled his eyes.

"It's only the second day," Lily said with worry. "Honestly Harry, you act as if school's new to you, I'm sure you'll fall back into your routine soon."

"It just felt, off this year," he struggled to explain even as he already felt a sharp paining returning for even trying to speak about something he had no clue should bother him.

It wasn't hard to realize that something was bothering him this year in particular, even more than last if that was possible, and it was frustrating none of them could think how to help because they weren't even sure of what the problem was yet.

"Knew you had to inherit some of my brains," Lily poked fun at her husband's expense.

"I'll have you know I got an O in my sarcasm OWL dear," James batted his eyes at her.

"Who set it, Remus or Sirius?" Harry couldn't help but snip.

All three denied answering.

"Sounds like bowtruckles," Remus couldn't seem to stop himself answering, while Sirius rolled his eyes and just thanked Merlin he wasn't inserting other trivia in between already.

"My dad once had a chap around who had one of those as a pet, road around on his shoulder," Remus smiled in remembrance.

"So your dad knew the same kind of strange people you do," Sirius surmised, as Remus sometimes enjoyed inviting people over who could have a friendly discussion about magical creatures, of course none ever stayed long.

"That about covered it," James snickered.

"Nothing yet to add Moony?" Sirius was clearly challenging, so knowing whether Remus answered or not he'd get mocked for doing so, Remus looked him in the eye and said, "a group of bowtruckles is called a branch."

Sirius just rolled his eyes, but he couldn't pretend he was surprised.

James had only vaguely heard of these things from Remus, so though he'd heard this fun fact, he still rubbed at the corner of his eye protectively.

"Why would she know?" Remus shook his head sadly for Harry. "She's only the substitute, you should take that up with Dumbledore."

"Well as I'm still rather annoyed at him for ignoring me all summer, better to start with her," Harry sighed.

"I see she still fails to see Harry as Hagrid's friend instead of a nosy kid," James huffed.

"Why wait for that?" Sirius' teeth were already bared for a fight.

All of them fidgeted in unease for that. It wasn't a good thing at all that just by this little comment, they all understood the Death Eaters were aware of Hagrid's involvement, but that didn't stop Remus frowning in confusion, "I don't understand why he knows about this? Surely his father doesn't let him in on Death Eater meetings?"

"Who knows?" James shrugged, "a lot of the kids we knew in school who turned into that lot sure seemed to know a lot more than they should have, and I'll bet you anything that's because of what their parents told them and what they strung together. Wouldn't surprise me Malfoy's in the same boat."

Lily didn't comment, as she was chewing hard on her lip in concern for what could be happening to Hagrid, and why they Death Eaters would know anything about what was going on with him, unless they'd had a go at him. Surely Hagrid was strong enough to resist such a thing, right?

"Dumbledore would know if something happened to Hagrid," Remus said with as much confidence as he could. "Besides, he most likely had Maxime go with him if you remember, and you have to be a fully trained wizard to be a Headmistress, so there's just no way they could subdue both Hagrid and her and the Order wouldn't know about it."

"Yeah, Malfoy's just full of it as always, Hagrid'll be back at Hogwarts before you know it," James said with absolute conviction.

Harry still felt the panic flaring in him, yet the moment his dad mentioned Hagrid back at Hogwarts Harry did feel a moment of peace. He was sure in that moment he would see Hagrid again, so he did take a deep breath and settled back down.

Remus kept reading on very loudly before Sirius could make that stupid joke as well.

"You don't know exactly what's going on," Sirius was clearly still sore about that.

"I like to think that miserable old Umbridge woman would be first out the door," Lily said in disgust. "At least Trelawney pretends to teach, that woman can't even accomplish that."

"It's breaking my heart to realize Snape will be of more use this year than that toad," James agreed in disgust.

Harry rubbed the back of his right hand in the remembered pain, inspecting the wound critically, but that had been no where near deep enough to leave those scars, nor at all explained his unsettled feeling about them.

Remus was tisking sadly Harry had nearly hurt that creature due to his not paying attention, but couldn't bring himself to say anything as he knew Harry hadn't meant any real harm.

"That's enough to cause anyone a moment of detention," Lily said grimly, she couldn't stand watching someone suffer while being laughed at.

"I thought you were supposed to turn that in at the beginning of class," Remus said in confusion.

"She didn't ask anyone to turn them in, suppose she forgot," Harry shrugged, the whole class had walked away and she hadn't stopped them anyways.

"As opposed to?" Sirius burst out.

"When is the last time I've ever heard her laugh at a joke," James huffed even while he was smiling a bit himself at his sons accurate joke.

"Honestly Harry, I wish you wouldn't do that," Lily groaned in dismay. "She's a right to her opinion if she does think that woman's a better teacher."

"Well she could at least pretend like she'd be offended like the rest of us," Harry wasn't letting go. "He's hardly had as much of a chance, she could cut him some slack and show some concern for things other than house-elves."

"She most certainly does when it counts," Lily said firmly, causing Harry to wince and back down for now.

"As am I when I enjoy a class, it's just unnatural," Sirius tried to lighten the mood, but was ignored.

"Well this should be interesting," Remus said honestly, he still hadn't quite formed an opinion of her, but he felt like he was fixing to with that kind of introduction.

"Well okay then," James blinked spastically at such an abrupt change of topic, before smiling widely, "I officially like her."

"She can read all the wonky magazines she likes so long as her head stays on straight," Sirius agreed with a happy smile.

Even as Lily and Remus agreed they couldn't help an eyeroll for the two having to phrase it like that.

"Just what is so funny about that?" Lily rolled her eyes in annoyance at such a trivial thing to her.

"I'm sure it's a combination of both actually," Harry said indulgently, wishing he'd done more to thank Luna at the time for the support he'd been wanting.

"Err," Siris said in confusion, looking to Moony for some kind of answer on that, but he just gave the same unknown shrug back.

James began scratching at his ear as he stated, "okay, now I'm confused, who's wrong there?"

"I'd guess, err," Sirius looked torn, thinking Hermione would normally be the one to know such a thing, but Luna had seemed to speak with certainty of the exact opposite.

"Honestly what does it matter," Harry still had that smile in place, "she can believe in Father Christmas and not think Hippogriffs are real for all I care."

No one could argue with that, it was too nice to hear of someone having no relation to Harry sticking up for him, it spoke of just how equal the grounds of Hogwarts could be on this subject, hopefully.

"You got her on that one Harry," James snickered.

"How so?" Sirius snipped. "I don't see anyone else lining up to say the same for Harry outright like that, I admire the girl for it."

"Why do I get the feeling that's not actually what Ginny had said," Remus frowned.

"I sincerely doubt her belief in, ah, certain creatures equates to outright lying about seeing something that is real," Remus defended.

"Well this should be interesting," James muttered, his lip already trying to curl up in disdain for the last time he really remembered this boys opinion and it putting Harry so low.

"Well I guess I'll take that," Sirius was trying hard to fight back a smile for this display, but at least this little twit he remembered was on the right person's side this time.

"You really took that one personally didn't you?" Lily giggled. "What if Cho started wearing an onion for a necklace?"

"I'll get back to you on that one," Harry laughed easily, this really had been just what he needed to calm his mind it seemed.

"Guess it's better than outright hostile," Remus sympathized.

"You'd really think at some point the teachers compared notes to realize, not all of them needed to do that!" James groaned.

"I did that most night anyways," Sirius agreed. "Far too much effort to track all the way up there just to come right back down for some grub, the bag slips under the bench easy enough."

The ease Harry had felt for just that small moment was already vanishing at the mention of this all over again, he was already resisting the temptation to snap the book shut on Remus' fingers and hide it from sight from  _ something.  _ He hadn't felt this anxious since the his fight with his dad at the Dursley mentionings, what on earth was fixing to happen to him?

"I can imagine it," James winced but kept that mutter to himself as he figured Harry wouldn't much appreciate it.

"It was hardly put into his planner on purpose," Sirius began defending at once.

"It's not as if he's going on a date instead," James defended that one. "No one plans for this nonsense!"

"Not a teacher on earth would let you get away with that," Remus stated at once, gazing at the book like Angelina had lost her mind. "I can imagine even McGonagall scolding you for suggesting otherwise no matter her love for her team."

"The pathetic part is, that may actually work on this woman," Lily said in disgust.

That garnered a giggle from them, even if it wasn't a strong one for how down they could all tell he was for this now hanging over his head. Harry was at least trying to silently convince himself that's what made this detention feel so awful, that he'd already let Angelina down because of it...

"I can't even picture Flitwick taking pity on you and accepting that," Lily sighed

"What does that have to do with homework?" Lily blinked in confusion.

"It certainly sets a glum mood, but sunshines no better, then you just want to be outside," Remus shrugged for the odd comment, while James and Sirius exchanged a speculative look.

Sirius mock wiped a tear from his face at the other three's confused looks for that, saying, "I'm just so proud of his wondrous lying skills, you think he'll give me lessons?"

"You certainly don't need them in theatrics," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Would you two let it go," he groaned before they could again comment on his odd habit of doing that, or even worse, tell him that was still the best option.

Remus' face was flushed with absolute disgust by the end of this, and he hardly needed to look up to see that mirrored on everyone else. Lily even had the urge to go hunt down Hickory and make certain her pet wouldn't befall such a travesty as that mental torture chamber was causing her mind's eye.

"I'm going to be sick," Sirius vowed, thankful there wasn't a spot of pink inside this room or he really might have been.

"I didn't believe you were really going to go through with it," Remus turned disbelieving eyes on Harry. "You must know you've a better chance getting Snape to wash his hair."

The insult had been a default, but he was surprised when Lily smiled just for a moment before shooting him a nasty look as he quickly kept going.

"I could have told you that before you walked in," James sighed for his poor son.

They all flushed with renewed hatred at that woman phrasing this as such. At this point they'd pay Harry just to skip all of her detentions and see what kind of fallout that caused, hopefully it would be taken up with Dumbledore or something and he'd step in for Harry having to suffer anymore time with this vile amphibian.

"I'll shove that lesson so far up your arse even your extended tongue couldn't reach it with help from a Ton Tongue Toffee," Sirius hissed with pure vile.

"Remind me to help refill McGonagall's biscuit tin for her," Lily said with just a touch of relief. She would never be against her son standing up for himself, but there was a time and place as well. He was already in enough trouble with this, no need to keep stirring the shit pot.

"No thanks to your slimy arse," James snarled.

"That's it?" Remus cocked his head in confusion, all so thrown by such an oddly mundane task they failed to notice Harry now clasping the back of his right hand so tightly in his left he would leave a bruise there soon.

"I half expected her to ask you to help remove her warts or something," Sirius tacked on, while Remus kept going now just out of disgust to get away from that mental image.

Both of Harry's hands were now shaking so hard he couldn't even hide them from sight if he'd tried, his sleeves would start trembling just as bad. Lily caught sight of this and gave him a concerned look, but she was floored from asking by her mind failing how to phrase the question. Nothing like this should be causing him to look like that...

"You've far more talent than I do," James snapped.

Harry couldn't seem to stop himself as he jumped to his feet, wringing the back of his hand anxiously as he avoided all eyes. He could feel it, that need to run and duck for cover, to warn them they were fixing to find out something he did not need to be told they weren't going to like, and yet the words refused to come to him as always, leaving him simmering with an urge he physically could not act on and leaving him a mess.

"Harry what on earth-" they tried in concern, but one hard shake of his head was all the reminder they needed he could not answer, so Remus went back to the book while now on the edge of his seat.

"It's only the second day?" Sirius quickly butted in with confusion to try and take Harry's mind off whatever he was fixing to relive. "Surely it's paperwork from her job at the Ministry or something."

Harry didn't even give an acknowledgment he'd heard.

Four very confused brows went up at that, all of them still watching Harry mender to the doorway and back as if forcing himself not to run from the room from some reaction he seemed to be expecting from them. Odd as this was, Remus still couldn't find anything to indicate what the bloody hell had him so turned up.

James opened his mouth in confusion, he still couldn't understand how he was writing anything without the ink, but he was still watching Harry with worry so at first missed the odd sound of Remus' voice taking on the new tone as he read out the answer.

For just a moment, Remus had looked almost politely puzzled at what he was reading, his mind trying to understand the idea of this thing. Then his mouth went dry, and he was hardly able to finish what he was saying as his vision blurred, and he like everyone else was once again looking where Harry was deftly trying to hide his hand from sight.

It wasn't even kind of working, as on his next hesitant steps through the room James managed to snag his elbow, and almost gently lifted his left away to gaze at the faded white pattern. The words were not legible, but the area was indeed much more faded than the rest of his hand, and now that he knew what he was looking for, the odd shape of it did indeed indicate the misshapen spot could indeed be letters too blurred over time.

Lily began in a deadly quiet voice, "don't you dare tell me that is what you are to be using all night."

Harry was gently trying to tug his arm away to get a release from James now as he calmly answered, "I believe so."

Sirius hardly heard the reply as he was on his feet with such a deep throated growl he was as likely as Moony to rip someone's throat out in a moment. For now he could only physically act by kicking the table, causing it to flip and break into several peice against the fireplace across the room. It did nothing to alleviate the need he had to do this to that woman's face.

No one stopped him as he pulled out his wand and the rest of the table shattered into splinters, but sadly the noise caused just as loud a raucous upstairs that had Lily sprinting out of sight, though she was moving more from memory than anything as she could hardly see straight through her anger.

Harry finally got his arm free from his dad, who simply sat there gazing at nothing but seeing pink. Harry looked at all of them, visibly white and shaking from anger, while he still rubbed at the back of his hand as he couldn't think of a thing to say. This wasn't like at the Dursleys, he wasn't going to bother with futile attempts to put them at ease because he honestly felt just as angry as them.

His mother came back with an eerily blank face, somehow all the scarier she was holding her infant. Harry nearly ducked for cover as she drew her wand as well, but all she did was repair the damaged table, and laid her infant son down on the floor with his blanket and made a little mobile appear above him. There was a stag, a gray and black dog, and a broom hanging from it, and as she gave it a tap for it to begin, it began humming a little melody Harry vaguely recognized as his mother's voice from the other day.

"I am going to kill her." The cold, simple way she said it made Harry's skin crawl as she stood back up and marched back to her place next to James. "No one leaves a mark on you like that-"

"Merlin's shit she's as bad as Voldemort!" Sirius cut her off with a still roaring howl that was definitely the cause of the babies continued wailing. Sirius physically bit his tongue to convince himself to stop, leaving the crying echoing in the background of all their minds feeling oddly appropriate until his toy caught his attention again and the tears cut off.

Harry shifted restlessly from foot to foot in the uncomfortable silence that followed, but still was drawing a blank on anything to say, so though he knew it would do no good, he couldn't think of anything else to do but to go over to Remus and try to tug the book away.

Remus gave him a hard look, his voice barely controlled calm, "unless you're suppressing the reaction to curse her where she sits and go to Dumbledore, I don't quite think we're done talking."

Harry sighed with unease, but didn't bother to deny the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, as the others seemed to know full well. He did still try to explain himself, "what good would it do to let her think this bothered me?" He quickly finished his own question before anyone could interrupt, "no more good than if I'd gone to Dumbledore. If he let her into that school, there was nothing he could do about the detentions she set." He finished by crossing his arms defiantly. "I'm there because she thinks I'm a stupid attention seeking child, and she won't get me to back down because of this." He faltered just a bit though, when their stone like faces now held tones of disbelief.

"Harry," Lily began in a forced calm voice that was scaring him more than if she'd been screaming. "There is a time and place for you to stand up for yourself, but-"

James cut her off, beginning to lose his own battle and starting to shout as well, "she was actually torturing you Harry! Not some joke like Filch always was, this is wrong!"

Harry kept himself stiff for the argument, but was surprised he could feel himself wavering in the face of their concern. He could already feel he had this argument with someone else, he sincerely doubted Umbridge herself, and he'd won during those times, yet there was something about looking at his parents in particular, their deep concern and anger for this that really drove home for him he may have bitten off more than he could chew with this one. He at least had the vague, almost hopeful impression he wrote to Sirius about something soon, so he gave in for now and hoped that would appease them when he most likely came to that conclusion in his own time.

Remus watched him back down with as much defense as anyone stopping an argument could have, and it made him wish he'd vomit already rather than have this feeling sitting inside him. If he was acting this way towards them, would Umbridge perhaps be even worse than this? He couldn't imagine that being possible, but the person who was having his nephew carve his hand open like that would now be held in the same light as the Dursleys or Voldemort.

Lily'd had many moments she wanted more than anything to be there for her son, but none so violent before now. What this cretin was doing to her baby had her already cataloging a few of her favorite fire charms for starters.

James was fighting hard with the resistance he was having to hold not to run his fist through a wall imagining it a toad like face. This just had to be illegal, and if he didn't hear about Sirius bursting in soon to show his idea of this James wasn't going to be able to hold himself still much longer.

Remus had sadly already guessed that part. The red haze tinting the edge of his vision hadn't left since that realization, as somehow this was still by far the worst thing they'd yet to read. Hearing of Voldemort attacking Harry was equal, but even this was starting to surpass that. Least that madman was honest about his intentions and had never hidden the fact that he wanted Harry dead. The torture he'd inflicted on Harry that night at least hadn't been self inflicted!

Sirius was still trembling with fury, the urge to break something had not yet left him. How long had Harry endured this for a permanent mark to have been left?!

James could not stop another outburst erupting, "dammit Harry, this is not a test of wills! You subjecting yourself to doing this is in fact exactly what she wants, how does giving in to her-"

"Would you really go crying to someone else, let her win?" Harry shot back, his right hand still clenched in a tight fist, though now from actually remembering the pain of this than fear of it coming.

"Harry, telling when you see something illegal going on isn't being a snitch, it's what you're supposed to do," Lily was still forcing herself to remain very still, keep her eyes on her infant rather than going into the raging fury that was building more every moment.

Harry did not look convinced though, and James ruffled up his hair so forcefully it looked like he was trying to pull it out. Was this what the Dursleys had taught him? Because of all the things they'd done to him Harry had taken their abuse and silence to the next level, and he'd never share with anyone the physical trauma he was put through? How long did this go on?!

Remus could actively feel the vomit climbing and was expecting it any moment now to cover these pages, though hopefully that would finally take away the crimson tinted words. This was just one night that was leaving Harry's hand marked, and he still had three days to go. He couldn't delusion himself this would never happen again either, not with something so deep in his skin. He couldn't keep doing this, force out words about Harry in this situation like it was some normal book...

The binding snapped, pages scattered the carpeted floor, and Hickory poked his head in curiosity and began swatting at once at a loose few. Remus didn't even seem to realize it as his lip curled in outrage at that lifeform touching Harry after what she'd done to him.

Harry opened his mouth, decided it would be better for his ear drums if he held back his comment, and simply shook his head at the lot of them. This wasn't even as bad as Quirrell pinning him to the ground back in first year, he honestly thought they were being entirely too dramatic about this. Umbridge may be a foul, twisted creature the likes of which Trevor wouldn't go near, but he'd honestly been hoping someone would at least understand why he did what he had, not keep looking in a way that made him wish he could post troll guards at the doors and windows. He did pull out his wand and repair the book, summoning it back to his hand, and kept going in the thick silence in as calm a voice as he could, though he was sure it was helping nothing that now the mark on his hand was more visible than ever.

Lily had to blink slowly upon realizing it had just slipped right into talking of the mundane world of homework, as if this happening to Harry really had been some simple annoying detention to him. Hickory, clearly annoyed his new toy had been taken away, tried to wind around her leg and meow with displeasure, but she could not bring herself to take notice of even this, all the normal feeling she could find left was keeping her eyes on her toddler.

"Harry, give that back." Remus finally seemed to have snapped to attention and was holding his hand back out, his face making it clear this wasn't up for debate.

Harry handed it back it over even as he shook his head at the lot of them. Clearly they were hoping he was fixing to tell Ron what had happened, but he could already feel he had no intentions of doing that. Still, if it kept their attention off murder even for a few moments he wasn't going to argue the point.

James could only distantly remember now what he'd been thinking about what Ron was up to, and even the fun of hanging over the other's heads what he was sure this was about couldn't hold his attention. He wanted to hear Ron convince his son he was being an idiot and drag him to Dumbledore for starters.

"Don't tempt her," Harry said with a forced laugh, crossing his arms in frustration when no one even pretended to join in.

Harry had to fight hard to repress a shiver from the lot of them glaring at that, but he met their eyes defiantly as he snapped, "what, it's not-" then he met his father's eyes and looked away shamefully, their fight from this morning still weighing heavily on his mind. He still wasn't sure if James had forgiven him for his omissions at the Dursleys place, and trying to put this off clearly wasn't doing himself any favors, so for now he instead pressed his mouth tight together and hoped Ron didn't push this any farther.

Sirius could feel his mind plucking at a past thread, how he'd have loved to make some superior comment about how Ron could have more going on there than sympathy for his friend, but Harry's face was now tight and drawn just as much from avoiding James' eyes as it was from still rubbing at the back of his hand in pain.

"Commitments!?" For just a moment the injustice of Angelinas comment at least got Sirius to stop contemplating murder. "Merlin, the girls acting like you're going to Charms club instead, not being tortured," he finished on the same vicious keil he'd been on.

Harry sighed. Even when they were in agreement, they still couldn't relax.

Harry really wished his friends would quit bringing that up, it caused him to shift anxiously and still not be able to say anything to the contrary amongst the thick layer of anger still pulsing in here.

Harry scowled at nothing in here instead of having to continue seeing their faces with that same look. He had no clue how long he could hide this from Ron and Hermione, but he doubted long enough his families temper had cooled, or at this point if it even would.

Lily finally felt her boiling anger simmer as she got a proper look at her son, and let out a small noise of sympathy as she got up to sit on the arm of the sofa and scooped his hand away from him so he'd quit rubbing at it, now she was. The skin twitching across the old scar in remembered distress finally started to slow.

Remus wanted to whack Harry over the head with the book for that comment, there was a difference between telling when something was being done to you and whining about a hard detention. He fought hard to resist the temptation though, forcing himself to remember it wouldn't help anything even if it would make him feel a bit better.

Lily had absolutely no desire just to lightly change the subject and pretend like this wasn't happening anymore, but at this point the lingering silence was even starting to make her infant uneasy on the floor. If he could feel the atmosphere even while the cat had crawled over and was trying to catch his mobile now, no matter how often it floated just out of reach, as further distraction she knew she should do something. "So you think Ron's practicing for the tryouts that Friday?"

Harry gave her such a pleased smile for any normal conversation it did make it worth it, even if her throat was still too raw for it to have come off completely normal.

"Yeah, reckon so. I didn't notice it at the time obviously, but I'm really hoping he makes it."

Sirius made a disgruntled little noise, but took pity on Lily and added in as well, "nothing better than playing Quidditch with your mates."

Remus felt like he was biting a lemon but put in casually enough, "poor Hermione's going to be left in the stands by her lonesome now."

James huffed, muttered a few more extra death threats for good measure, but finally nodded and said, "she can sit with Neville and cheer them both on."

Harry was actually smiling, and forcing himself to relax now. Even forced casual conversation was better than counting the ways each of them wanted to kill her.

"He's as adept at lying as Harry," Remus grumbled under his breath.

"Wonder if he put a leash on his broom," Sirius snipped.

He winced and wanted to smack himself over the head as he realized Ron's was hardly on the same level as his, as his mother suddenly crushing has hand informed him.

"Mum," Harry finally protested through gritted teeth. She had to concentrate on every finger to stop her death grip on that hand, to make sure no part of him was being hurt right now, even accidentally by herself.

Harry was clearly starting to feel a little desperate with the suffocating mood around him, almost understandable since he didn't feel the same way even if that part was mind boggling, so Sirius cobbled together some kind of compliment in, "you sure know how to hold your tongue."

Harry eyed him wearily, unsure how to reply to that and almost thankful he wasn't expected to.

Lily wished desperately her son's biggest concern was blowing off his homework for something that didn't involve his getting a scar out of it, now she wished she could go give those teachers the reason her son was struggling to do this for them. She was honestly hoping Mcgonagall would be mentioned any moment now demanding of Harry why this sudden change in what she'd heard was at least a good student. She gave her son credit he was even bothering to do the assignments honestly, instead of outright refusing.

"Mum," Harry tried to finally protest and pull his hand away in pain as her nails began digging into the mark as well. She released him instantly with regret she'd done so, but her fist only contracted again into her own palm, the anger wouldn't recede.

Harry still tried for a soothing tone of voice for the lot of them, "you must have known this was coming, it wouldn't scar if it kept healing so fast every time."

"If you try to pretend this isn't a big deal one more time mister, I will silence you," Lily promised.

Harry clipped his mouth shut and finally gave in that there was nothing else for it, and just decided he'd have to let them be angry at least until this week was up.

"I think we should check you weren't recently hit on the head on top of all this, thinking a thing like that," Sirius managed in some semblance of words rather than the deep growls it mostly was.

James already knew she'd passed Snape in his book. Snivellus was many things, and James owed him a good deck or two for a lot of them not just towards Harry, but who would have thought he could consider it a blessing Snape had never drawn his son's blood! Why was that a standard now?!

"Your friend's being used as an insult now?" Remus said bleakly, but that one had been surprising enough his anger had dropped for just one second.

Sirius narrowed his eyes, cocked his head to one side than the other, before shaking his head but ultimately saying nothing. He'd have liked to pass a crack along about Ron's stellar attempts there, but anything other than swear words were still escaping him.

Harry laughed, though he was sadly still the only one, at Ron's piss poor redirection. He was still half hoping it wouldn't work and he could go five seconds without hearing one of them promise something worse than death.

Lily arched a brow at that comment, thinking she'd have liked to smack Ron for hiding from the twins of all things. The least he could have done was walked by pretending he didn't care, but that one was almost sad.

"No Harry, he takes it down to the Shrieking Shack to polish it, didn't you know?" James rolled his eyes in exasperation at Harry, who just gave an eager smile back at any kind of normal response, even if James eyes had flickered to Harry's hand again and at once settled back into a scowl.

"He started by telling you not to laugh, then ended saying you could, Ron needs to pick his side," Remus snorted lightly.

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Sirius offered, while Remus stared blankly at him for a second before saying, "if you're going to try and say things like that, at least make sure they make sense first."

Sirius pouted at him, beginning to protest it had made perfect sense, but Remus was now ignoring him.

Harry was almost elated watching them pick at each other, even if it was more stilted than anything. He didn't care, it just wasn't in the Marauders nature to hold onto anger, even if they could keep a grudge for the rest of their lives.

"Thought you played with him a bit over the summers," James couldn't seem to stop himself joining in, while Lily rolled her eyes at the ceiling that of course it would be Quidditch to make them seem normal again.

"He was a Chaser with me, we didn't have a snitch or bludger of course," Harry shrugged. "One of the twins was always going around trying to knock us off while the other played Keeper. That summer Bill and Charlie were there we almost had a full game, but still Ron and I teamed up."

"Good to practice the other positions now and again," Sirius nodded with enthusiasm.

Harry looked like he wanted to keep going, just to sit around and chat about this for hours, but Remus wasn't going to let him put this off forever.

"Wonder why they switched it up with you around?" Lily asked politely, just because she couldn't deny her son and he was still in full swing chatting about this.

"I'm sure I just took Charlie's place on the team up's," Harry smiled for her attempts even as he restrained himself this time in admission.

"I wonder what he would have done if I hadn't gotten detentions the first week," Harry said in surprise.

"Probably asked you to join him," Sirius shrugged.

"Oh I'm sure they won't," Lily began even as the others snorted lightly in agreement.

She tisked at the lot of them while Harry was almost completely relaxed again.

"I doubt they will anytime soon," Remus agreed.

Harry groaned in misery and buried his face in his hands, only successfully putting the mark back in the spotlight. He couldn't help it, he just couldn't go one moment without someone harping on about this could he.

"Hum," Sirius uttered between gritted teeth, "hand you can stick in your pocket, or broom the size of you, oh yes, very hard to hide them both."

"Ron had better make Keeper," Harry grumbled as he rubbed at his wrist, "reflexes were good enough to grab me before I could."

Remus said that with the equivalent of speaking of The Chamber of Secrets.

Harry thought they were being too dramatic again and wished this chapter would end.

"There's the proper response!" Sirius threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Hallelujah at least one of you does," James agreed, his mouth still twisted in his own disgust, he hadn't taken his eyes off the white mark on his son for a solid minute now.

"Enough power to report her for student abuse!" Lily had to try very hard to stop herself shrieking in frustration again.

Harry just frowned at her oddly as he reminded, "to be reported to the same man who also thinks I'm a lying attention seeker?"

Lily ceased, but her face only flushed with more frustration. She didn't care how it was done, Dumbledore had better do something to get that monster away from her boy even if he had to start a revolt on the Ministry to do it.

James still found that an absolutely ludicrous reason, Harry was being petty and honestly an idiot. Whatever Dumbledore was doing with his life he would put on hold for this madness! Despite trying to catch Harry's eye though, it was clear he still believed this as much as before and there just wasn't any good in convincing him of this now.

Remus gave an irritated huff at that painting cutting Ron off like that, as most likely Harry had taken the moment to dart up to bed without his friend furthering his point.

"I don't think anyone has," James agreed grimly.

Somehow, it was all the worse for the lot of them they knew it wasn't. If it had taken four days just for it to not begin healing properly, than just how many times had it taken for it to start scaring!? The answer was very obviously more than five, and they each wanted to do something far more than to just sit here hearing about that.

"Thought that red hair would come in handy for once," Sirius began jittering in place, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand almost hopefully as he eyed the fireplace, Harry fearing at any moment he was going to snap and go hunting that woman down.

Harry sighed, but held his hand back out for his mother. She took it gratefully, but gingerly this time, cradling it as if he were made of glass while her thumb kept pressure on his old wound.

James was vibrating in place, torn between wanting to hear of more happy details about Quidditch and continue raging about this abuse happening to Harry. Contemplate the bad, or at least try and think on some good. He was entirely grateful Remus was the one reading, he wasn't sure which he would have focused on.

Sirius still almost wished Harry would simply up and leave, go down to that pitch and see what that woman did to stop him. It truly was the worst part to him Harry was subjecting himself to this, allowing it to happen without a fight because he'd somehow convinced himself he was proving a point, instead he was doing the opposite and just giving in to her will.

"Don't break the book again," Harry groaned when Remus started tensing in disgust. "We've still got ages to go, and this one's been more battered than all the others already."

"She'd better stop putting those webbed fingers near you then," Remus muttered without remorse, but managed to not rip the binding off even if his tendons stayed visible.

Remus froze, finally his mind being released from picturing that ghastly woman, only to focus on the one threat above her.

"The last time your scar hurt like that-" Lily began uneasily, but broke off because they all knew what she meant.

"Used to be it was just when you dreamed though," Remus agreed brokenly, "and when he was around. Now it's happening even more?" His voice was quickly rising into an almost shouting level of panic at the end.

Harry couldn't bring himself to pull his hand away from his mother to rub at his scar in remembrance of this happening, so instead he tried to understand the other feeling that he was sure he should have been able to identify. Surely not while around Umbridge, but a feeling he got every time he looked at his parents, like-

"What do you think caused it this time?" Sirius' voice instantly cut off Harry's train of thought. "Not that toadstool surely."

"If being around the fake Moody didn't, I don't think that walking dung would even if she was working for him," James disagreed.

"I still wish I knew why it was happening at all," Lily grumbled as the only answer they'd ever vaguely gotten for that had been unsatisfactorily given by Dumbledore. Though it wasn't entirely anyone's fault, perhaps no one would ever know, this was an entirely new thing.

Remus wished they had more to go on, anything else to say or speculate, but in the absence of that, even just to be done with this bit of torture Harry was enduring already just by being in the same castle as Trevor's ugly stepsister.

"I, she can't have!" Lily whimpered uneasily. "There's just no way. She's a vile creature, but not like Quirrell was, it can't be possible with Voldemort having his own body now."

"The timing of that though," James didn't need any more reason to want to gut this blight, and yet he'd been given one. "I'm not sure I'm buying the coincidence of it all, happening when she touched him."

"For the second time though," Sirius reminded, "if this had happened the first I'd be more inclined to agree."

"We just don't have enough to go on," Remus huffed with a sorrowful eye on Harry, wishing he did have more answers for him, as clearly he was watching them eagerly like he hoped they'd crack this wide open any moment. He seemed to realize as he looked to Remus though that he'd just have to let them speculate for now rather than pressing for any more facts from him, no matter how much he wanted to pry open his mind and give them.

"I think Ron made the team," Lily said distantly, Quidditch the last thing on all of their minds, everyone was still very deep in thought over this latest development.

Lily had not forgotten that one for a moment though, her gentle warm touch all that was stopping Harry pressing his sleeve as if to stem the remembered flow in pain.

Sirius couldn't help a snort of laughter escape, even if it was far more subdued than normal with his mind so off track.

"I'm sure he's disappointed she's not hanging off his arm with admiration," James agreed distantly.

"So? The little first years were probably all out dueling or something," Remus half heartedly played off, his mind entirely not on it.

"She says after the fact," Lily sniffed.

"Well going for the jugular does get your point across best," Sirius snorted while Remus automatically moved away from him for the reminder.

"I'm all the more glad she picked Ron then," James frowned on Ron's behalf.

"Not very good of her just to be banking he'd pan out because his brothers have talent though," Lily shook her head.

"Everyone seems to compare the lot of them, even the other students," Sirius muttered agreement.

"They're probably all scratching their heads trying to figure out why people keep leaving their stuff around more than usual," Sirius snorted enthusiastically this time at such a stupid change of subject.

"Not in the same way," Lily gently reminded while Harry nodded his agreement. At that time he'd been far more panicky over it, rather than now where he felt a bit more cool headed, though still with the same amount of answers.

"I don't think that would cause the sensation though," Remus muttered disagreement.

"I'm still not saying I believe in that coincidence," James shook his head again.

"Well both Ron and Hermione together aren't usually wrong," Sirius tried a wheedling voice, for some reason still trying to get Harry to admit that in here.

"Usually because they're agreeing with me," Harry said flatly, trying to hide his sarcasm with a flat voice and failing a bit.

Remus stopped cold, but shook that off very fast and at once protested, "Harry, you know that's not true. He cares about you as a person-"

"Couldn't tell lately," Harry snipped right back.

Remus looked pleadingly to the others for backup, but felt all the worse he wasn't seeing much more of it there.

In all honesty, they had been wondering for ages just why Dumbledore had taken such an interest in Harry when he'd no moral obligation to whatsoever. Why place him with the Dursleys instead of letting Sirius take him? Why do anything with Harry's safety once Voldemort had been announced dead and Dumbledore shouldn't have had a reason to think so otherwise. The answer circled back to the uniqueness of Harry's scar, and perhaps their old headmaster wanting to keep an eye on it.

Remus didn't want to believe this though, not the same Albus who'd seen past the monster and allowed him to go to school, so he let none of them voice any of their ideas and kept going loudly for Hermione's protest.

"It took you till Friday to think of that!" Sirius demanded, the thought had been in the back of his head since he'd had a clear thought again.

"It only happened that day," Harry said back in confusion, before the astounded faces reminded him that wasn't all his godfather was talking about. He failed to respond further though, waving back to the book as he could already remember Hermione's disapproving face of the idea and he had no doubts she'd tell him why.

"Get creative!" Sirius said just a bit desperately. "Honestly Harry, I know you know how to get around the truth now, I can take a hint and read between the lines of whatever you send."

Harry just gazed sadly at him, but there was nothing left in him to convince himself he hadn't given up on the idea quickly enough.

"I'm starting to wonder why Ron puts up with the two of you," James heaved a sigh. "Can't even scrape together a laugh during this joyous occasion."

Lily made a soft attempt at a laugh for the girls enthusiasm that was still being restrained by her ever growing fear of her son's past, and future.

Remus all too happily closed his chapter with a very sharp snap, still having the desire for that extendable tongue to be caught in the pages.

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I found a kitten! His name is Tiki Torch! I find great irony I found him in a bush while writing the chapter about the despicable Umbridge and her fondness of cats! That is all.

  
  



	14. PERCY AND PADFOOT

You know what I find really odd? Sirius is only specifically referenced two times as Padfoot, Remus calls him that once in the Shrieking Shack, twice if you count him first telling who he is though I don't, and Lily's later letter. Yet the two chapter titles about him use his nickname as well instead of Sirius, and I'm not sure why.

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Lily did not take the book with any amount of happiness. She couldn't stand the idea of just casually going on about Harry's life while that tyrant was torturing her son on a weekly basis now. The only remote bright spot she could picture was the end of the year where hopefully she'd sustain something far worse than having to leave the job. She took the book from Remus very grudgingly and trudged back to her spot next to James in a heavy silence, only Harry still seemed anxious to try and pretend like that part of his life was no big deal.

"That's a surprise," Remus said conversationally enough, he could still be angry and keep things light for Harry's sake. "I'd think you'd have to be dragged out of bed with all your sleepless nights from before."

"Guess my brain was still wired for school," Harry shrugged with a smile at him for the attempt.

"Gash, can you imagine the horror," Sirius shuddered.

"Sounds nice actually," James snorted, "one nice long week to nap."

"Really Harry? You didn't realize the problem with Hermione's plan? You were the one who had to trick Dobby into getting that sock instead of just giving it to him yourself," Lily frowned at him in confusion.

"I honestly thought Hermione had found a way around that, and hadn't questioned her. Thought she really knew what she was doing," Harry shrugged.

"Well it's nice to know she's not infallible in her logic sometimes I guess," James snorted.

They all perked up with interest at that, they'd been assuming Harry had just been fixing to start on some homework or some such, but this was even better! Sirius was full blown smiling now that Harry really was going to write to him about anything!

"Very carefully," Remus smiled.

"Or you could charm it so that it only shows you the words when you give it a very vague command," James grinned.

Harry looked a bit disappointed he'd never thought of that, he really wished he had asked his Marauders how they'd charmed their map to do that.

Sirius snorted violently before full blown laughing. Then he couldn't seem to stop for a moment. Lily looked on at him with a touch of concern for this reaction, Umbridge's horrid ways set her mind racing with every foul spell she knew to use on that woman for what she'd done to Harry. Just what on earth had Walburga Black done to Sirius for him to clearly be agreeing with Harry like this? She longed to ask, but respected it was his right to tell her if he ever wanted to.

"That was incredibly vague," Remus beamed with pride.

"So, goal met then?" Harry smiled sheepishly, he'd been a little worried they were all going to tell him off for contacting Sirius considering how worried they'd all been about him joining him at the train.

"Absolutely," James nodded, "you're already a natural at this."

"That was a little on the nose," Lily giggled.

"Still credit for trying," Sirius chuckled.

"Definitely not, you're safe on all counts," they all agreed, causing Harry his first real smile since he'd been back at school.

"I'm sure he'll be back in no time," Lily said with more confidence than she really felt. She was very worried about Hagrid as well, what was taking him so long?

"A classic then," James smirked.

"How on earth could he be bored by such a thing?" Remus drawled.

"Well that's fair enough," Sirius agreed.

"Merlin, doesn't anyone let people have some fun in that place," James sighed.

"Maybe she was just mad you stopped her heading that way as well," Sirius snorted, "I've caught her a fair few times trying to go up there pestering the owls."

"You didn't bother calling me that last year, why start now?" Sirius chuckled.

"Now I actually felt the need for it," Harry muttered, shifting just a bit with unease as the safety of his godfather came into question.

"Can you imagine how many times that happens a day and no one sees it," Sirius looked a bit amused.

"Imagine if they roamed the grounds more than the forest," James agreed. "People would be constantly knocking into them, and seeing things happen because of those and no one would be able to figure out why except those that saw them."

"You lot are enjoying this idea far too much," Lily tried to repress a smile at the idea by telling them.

"What can we say, we have a certain fondness for invisibility," Remus smirked.

"Hey, look who finally gets a moment alone with his crush," Sirius threw his hands up in victory.

"I don't find the owlery the most romantic setting," James smirked.

"Let's see if Harry can get through with this one without making a fool of himself," Remus snickered, "or this time it'll be entirely his fault."

"Your encouragement is the limit," Harry grumbled.

"Harry, you have yet to say that, ever," Sirius smirked, achieving his goal in getting a rise out of Harry who simply scowled at him for now.

"Considering you've never had a proper conversation, starting casual is probably best," James said fairly.

"Could have asked something more direct, like what she'd gotten her mother," Lily objected.

"Or I could go read this in another room without you lot," Harry huffed to try and get them to stop.

"You wouldn't dare," Sirius gasped.

"And miss out on our brilliant commentary?" Remus looked a touch offended.

Lily started giggling a bit when Harry didn't back down from his threat as she turned back anyways.

"Well I like her," James beamed at once.

"A very good point she managed to steer right into that sport," Sirius agreed, which Harry supposed was better than them picking on him, so he let it go.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate the team," Remus said fairly, "just the fans who suddenly like them."

"Entirely not the point," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh look, another supporter," Sirius said quickly rather than letting Harry dwell on that again for a moment, "that's three to two."

"Are you going to keep a tally of everyone in the school?" Harry asked with some bemusement.

"Don't tempt him," James sighed.

"He's already not doing a good job anyways, it's five to two counting Ron and Hermione," Remus reminded.

"Those were given," Sirius brushed him off.

"Not if you're going to do a complete poll of all 500 something students-"** Remus began disagreeing, but Lily finally cut through the lot of them.

"That'd be a sight," James snickered at the idea.

"Priorities," Remus agreed lightly.

"I'm not sure of the reaction you were hoping to get with that one," Lily said in disgust.

"I certainly wouldn't find that braver, but stupid on your part for not saying something about it before now," James agreed with a hard look at Harry who chose now to check to see if his shoelace was still tied.

Lily puffed up her cheeks before letting the air out slowly to make sure her voice came out neutral as she asked, "why would he think that?"

"Maybe it was someone playing a prank?" Harry brushed off, not wanting to think much of it as he was still caught on his Cho interactions with a smile.

"Harry, you don't find it just a bit concerning someone was trying to take your mail from you?" Remus wheedled to try and keep him on track while everyone's eyes were still narrowed with dislike over this.

Harry did rethink things over, and he certainly felt a ball of anxiety forming in him at the thought now, but he was finally enjoying just a bit of his time remembering school again and don't want them to keep ruining it with suspicions, so he just shrugged again.

Lily hoped that meant nothing did come of this moment, rather than worrying at her lip for the implications of something she did not like.

"What's he going to do if you had?" James snorted, his old joy of tormenting Filch quickly rising to the top.

"Surely, it'll involve whipping or something," Sirius snickered, "that'll make the clothes come right off."

"Urgh," Lily grumbled, she'd never taken Filch's threats so lightly as the lot of them, but then she supposed, she'd never had to suffer a detention with him either so she could see why they played this off as a joke.

"Are you sure she's not a Keeper?" James threw his head back with laughter, "because I think she is."

"And you say I come up with bad puns," Sirius snickered along.

"You'll what? Come on man, finish your threats, it's far healthier," Remus said almost encouragingly.

"She asks after defending you," Lily giggled.

"Proper timing," James agreed.

"Lookie there, finally making some progress," Sirius couldn't quite keep the mocking tone out of his voice even as he applauded Harry.

"Looks like third time's his charm, he's beaten Prongs out by a mile," Remus agreed.

"Come on, 394 really isn't that bad in comparison," Sirius put on James' voice in a fair impression.

James chucked a pillow at him while Lily kept going.

"Is that all it takes putting you in a good mood?" James huffed, still giving his two friends the stink eye. "Chatting with a pretty girl? Maybe we should try and convince Andromeda to come over next time you're in a bad mood."

"I don't think the prelude to that conversation would be worth it," Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's sad he's surprised to see you happy," Sirius snorted.

"He wants to train before training, Merlin I want to cry just thinking about it," Remus groaned.

"Don't know what you're talking about Moony, I'll take some hits with the ground over the pummeling my brain took over homework," Sirius shrugged.

"I would never say any such thing, why would Hermione imply otherwise?" Sirius demanded while Harry chuckled fully again at that joke.

"I'm sure the removal of Fudge from his Minister position wouldn't keep her from talking about that," James rolled his eyes.

Lily choked hard as she spat the name out in surprise, and James wasn't going to sit around and wait for her to get her breath back as he lunged forward and took the book away from her, reading out in a fevered haste-

His face was going red, he had yet to take a breath, so Lily reached forward and placed her hand on the back of his neck, using as calm a voice as she could manage, "breath James, he's still fine."

"Right, yeah," he said jerkily, some normal color returning to his face as he studied the words and then glared up at his best mate.

To his infuriation, Sirius just shrugged with a bland look in place, saying, "look at it this way Prongs, even if I do, I'll know how not to get caught that way."

Remus' hands twitched, he really was going to start strangling him here in a moment if he didn't stop playing this off as a joke.

"Sirius, this really isn't the time for jokes," Harry stunned them all by snapping, his face bone white as he watched him. "How do you think I'll feel when-" his vision blurred white before he could say anymore, beginning to convulse and clearly suffering for trying to remember something.

Even beginning to guess what that could be had all of them breathless with fear, but Sirius rounded himself back enough, talking earnestly but softly to Harry now, "alright pup, you got it. No more making fun of Prongs no matter how dramatic he's being."

Harry's vision swam as he focused back on Sirius, something dark in him warning he didn't want to remember the warning he'd almost given. He believed that feeling, because the first option it meant just couldn't be true, he couldn't lose Sirius. So, it must be something else, Sirius just got really hurt or something...

It was the only conclusion any of them could comprehend, the alternative wasn't bearable. Lily had to gently pry the book from James' death grip as she went back to her spot, ignoring her own shaking voice for that heart stopping moment.

Remus forced himself to roll his eyes, to focus on this detail that Ron really hadn't noticed any such thing.

Sirius was also restraining himself from saying he didn't even blame Ron for not focusing on such a stupid little detail, but he didn't think that would be well received right now considering his last throwaway comment.

Sirius turned as white as Harry had just been. If that rat was never caught...he couldn't do it, he couldn't go back to prison again, one that was somehow conceivably on par with Azkaban...

"I don't give a damn what Dumbledore said," Sirius snarled with absolute conviction. "I'd rather die outside that house than be a prisoner inside it again."

He crossed his arms defiantly, waiting for someone to argue with him, but not even Harry could bolster himself to do this. If he'd had to go back to living at the Dursley's full time, even for his own safety...he'd be doing something desperate as well.

"Not more on-" Remus pleaded, having to resist the urge to grab Sirius and not let go until those thoughts of his were no longer an issue.

"No, no," Harry murmured, still not back to his normal color, "something other than Sirius caught my attention, if you can imagine."

Sirius managed a giggle that didn't quite hit normal, but if Harry was forcing himself to move past the moment than clearly, they'd over read his reaction, something else must be going on...not that Harry just couldn't bear to understand his own thought, that wasn't an option.

James managed only a semi hysterical giggle for that.

No one spoke while Hermione read out the charges, but by the time she'd finished and looked up in stunned disbelief, she found them all slack jawed. What they were hearing wasn't possible. Not the Sturgis who'd just been inducted into the Order, had gone to Dumbledore and begged the man to let him help in any way possible after he'd witnessed a muggle child beaten in the street. So how on Earth had he somehow managed to get himself tangled up into stealing from the Ministry? Sent to Azkaban? Why had he even wound up there, that bit about refusing to speak for himself stuck out more than anything, as surely Dumbledore would have stepped in. If he had for Harry than they couldn't imagine he wouldn't have for a faithful Order member as well...but then again, they also already knew of at least one instance where he'd let an Order member go to Azkaban without speaking a word for him. If he could do that to Sirius, they'd believe he could do that to anyone.

Harry was less following that train of thought and more trying to understand how someone from the Order had done that, but his first thought was a frame up. The man had been conned into it somehow... then he went cross-eyed in pain. He'd already suffered one memory blast a second ago for something far more precious to him regarding his godfather, he wasn't going to be pressing on this.

Lily was still waiting for someone to say something about this, but it was clear no one really could, this was too much happening back to back and they needed a minute to process, so Lily was hoping reading about Harry go through this would help.

"Oh, that part wasn't so surprising," Lily murmured, "the Ministry takes their breaking and entering very-" she broke off with a nasty glare at Sirius, who managed a real smile and almost a pout for Lily not slipping up.

"I'm sure if they knew they'd put that in the story," Remus frowned.

"Maybe not," James disagreed, "could be something very secret and important, don't want word spreading around about it."

"I, could be I guess," Sirius struggled, though he really had a problem understanding what the Order would have to do with the Ministry when they were so at odds.

"If so, then him being in Azkaban is all the fouler," James snarled in outrage.

"Perhaps he just wasn't doing this at that time, I'm positive he came around and explained himself before going on for more work," Remus reasoned out.

They all considered the idea for a moment, but not everyone was entirely convinced. Lily at least hoped the Ministry would never fall that far, but she still also held out hope there was something else going on they just couldn't get information from that about. Harry also wouldn't know, leaving them in the dark on this.

James and Sirius seemed to liken to the idea, in fact it explained a lot of his past behavior if he was now regularly being conned up there and then didn't explain this until after the fact to the Order for security reasons.

Remus found it plausible enough, though still a bit too underhanded for the Ministry at this stage. From all accounts, they were still working on discrediting Dumbledore, and though making one of his associates into this light was a next step, why make the piece so small then? They'd have made this front headline news if they were pushing for this tactic, yet it seemed a miracle the piece was in the paper at all. No, he still thought something else was going on here.

"How on Earth does she flip from that to homework?" Remus demanded, absolutely derailed from his train of thought.

"I'm sure Hermione can manage to switch any topic to essays," James scowled for this subject being brought up and then cut off so quickly, he wanted to know what was really going on with someone he considered a friend.

Sirius tisked at once, caught at once from his own speculation. "Don't know what she's on about, they're going to play Quidditch."

"So, you'll be heading down to the pitch soon," Sirius waved impatiently to get there.

Remus started snickering while nobody bothered acting surprised, even if Lily's mouth did thin just a bit in disapproval of this.

"Did she ever actually let you?" Lily asked astounded, as she hadn't at all picked up on this.

"Sometimes she 'accidentally' left her work out while she ran off to the Library for something," Harry chuckled, "but she never just pushed it over for us."

"Priorities," James agreed without a drop of sarcasm.

"I hope you remember that when you're up studying until Sunday," Remus winced in pity at the idea.

"That's fair honestly," James agreed, he hated lingering on things that weren't of importance as well, though he was still trying to pick apart that bit about Sturgis even while half listening to his sons Quidditch prows.

"I'd be more worried if she didn't honestly," Lily said fondly.

"If they were making cracks at him like that, it's no wonder he got a little frazzled during tryouts," Remus said in sympathy.

"Ron really shouldn't be letting those light things get to him," James scoffed in disbelief, "not only have the twins said far worse to him before, but the buildup to a game is brutal. Ron's got to have better nerves to keep up."

"Did we ever establish what the rules are for spectators to practice?" Harry grumped.

"Nope," James popped the p for emphasis. "Sadly, the pitch stands are open at all times, they hardly have a guard up after all. If you call off practice to go find a teacher to complain to, then you get the same end results of having practice cut up and your time will run out for the next person anyways."

Harry grumbled something but admitted he could do nothing more about this.

'Says the one on the Firebolt,' Remus thought in sympathy for Ron at that comment.

"It's nice even they have their limits," Sirius frowned in sympathy for Ron.

"I'm positive they'd never have a go at their brother in front of spectators," James said at once, "family boundaries and all that. They can pick on him all they like, but if someone else does it, then there's going to be a problem. Mocking him while they are being the opposite of that."

Sirius nodded in absolute agreement while Lily grinned at him before going on.

"I wish that one was more of a joke," Lily groaned, considering her son had successfully woken up in there all four years.

"Ooph," all five of them winced for that pain, though James tried to bolster, "least that one wasn't entirely his fault, Katie's got to work on her reflexes as well."

"He speaks from experience of one to many Quaffles in the face," Sirius agreed.

"Well he was only used to playing with one post, back at home," Harry defended lightly.

"Guess there is room for adjustment time," James agreed.

Lily winced upon the word three. She wasn't even much of a Quidditch fan and she was starting to feel bad for Ron, the boys were past that and starting to shift with unease at this poor display. They liked Ron a lot, but maybe he wasn't cut out for this game on such a level, not everyone was.

"Well that can't be good," Remus yipped at once in concern.

"Just what did the twins do?" Sirius agreed in a sudden surge. "I remember them saying they hadn't perfected the nosebleed one yet, but I thought by giving her that it would at least stem the flow, not make it worse!"

"They gave her the purple pill," James soothed, though his own twitching showed he wasn't entirely okay with this either, "surely they're not just using her for a test dummie."

"What does he mean by mistake?" Lily demanded dangerously. "Thought they were color coded for a reason, how could he give her the wrong one?"

They really had no answer for this, it wasn't like the twins to be so careless with their own products.

"It's nice she thaws on them when it counts," Remus chuckled.

Sirius couldn't help but snort lightly for his snap, she had made the presumption, even if it was right.

"There's my little Gryffindor," James beamed for the response he'd have given.

"Oh Harry, don't let yourself get so psyched out as well," Sirius tried to comfort, "that won't help Ron."

"Malfoy really has this way of sticking in my head," Harry huffed.

"Lovely mental imagery," Remus winced in sympathy.

"Well it's not as if you had much of a choice," James said fairly, "what with being physically tortured and all," his voice finishing with flat ice.

Harry winced and hid his hand from sight again, knowing they weren't letting that one go anytime soon.

"Exactly what text was he using to be swapping all those?" Remus asked in sympathy.

"The book was upside down, he didn't even seem to notice he was as exhausted as I was," Harry sighed. "I probably would have noticed soon, I was almost done with mine."

"Why's she apologizing, I thought she always critiqued your homework," Lily said in surprise.

"Ron looked ready to make her eat that quill as he was using it," Harry winced, his best mate not in the mood for Hermione to be doing this over his shoulder in that way.

"I was under the impression she always criticized him," Sirius said lightly.

"I'm still convinced that's their form of flirting," Remus snorted, thinking Ron was looking for a good row to let off some steam, and Hermione was more than likely his usual go to with that.

"Not Percy's owl?" James yelped in shock as he leaned over Lily's shoulder to read that one.

"Why do you even remember that detail?" Sirius asked as he certainly hadn't.

Lily shushed them both while reading with an honest touch of hope, maybe Percy was trying to come around and apologize? Hopefully that letter was for all his siblings and he'd made up with his parents?

"I'm sure the Professor will appreciate the attention to detail," James muttered as he was still trying to peek over Lily's shoulder and see what this was about, while she was just as effectively ignoring him.

"That was not an encouraging start," Remus began without much surprise, though he still couldn't imagine what this was about, while Lily sighed with disappointment and couldn't bother clinging to her hope anymore as she got it out.

"That was entirely unnecessary," James huffed.

"As was that," Lily snipped at him.

"He didn't decide anything," Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation for people continually saying that. No one put their name down, no one did anything to become Prefect, it was entirely the decision of the Heads of Houses and ultimately Dumbledore.

Remus frowned in confusion, wondering what Umbridge had passed along that involved Ron at all? He supposed he wasn't too surprised if that thing was keeping tabs on Harry's friends as well though.

Harry spluttered with absolute indignation. What had he done to deserve that from anyone, let alone a person he'd gotten to know on at least some level? He'd never taken a liking to Percy, but he'd never thought he'd done anything to deserve him telling his own brother to drop him? Ron was Harry's first friend, his best friend, and more family than he'd ever had in his life before he met Sirius.

James fired up at once, snapping, "what does Percy want, for Ron to be an outcast and no one to like him like Percy is?"

The sad truth was, yes Lily did believe that. Percy may have heard this news and immediately hoped that he could reconnect with some member of his family, because he likely was lonely. That didn't excuse what he'd just told to do to her son.

"Why would that be his response?" Sirius scowled with anger as well as confusion for that one. Harry never once asked for that treatment.

With every line, Percy had written Remus continued growing more confused and angry, this one in particular caught him off guard. What did he mean Dumbledore wouldn't be in charge of the school anymore? That was an oddity in itself, he'd been the headmaster for generations already and in a most likely biased opinion the most reputable of them all. That didn't quite knock out the anger of the second part, more accurate his arse. Ron was Harry's best friend for years, he'd have the most accurate portrayal of Harry more than anyone, shouldn't this be his say so.

"Why am I not surprised this whole letter was planned out just to brag about himself winding up in the paper somehow," Sirius snarled.

"He doesn't get to use my name," Sirius huffed, to which he was ignored by all this time.

"Guilt of what!?" James thundered. "He saved his own damn life plus his useless cousin! What were they even trying to prove during that shame of a trial? That he cast a Patronus Charm for shits and giggles!"

"You should never argue with a stupid person, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." Remus snipped.

Lily did not get that out as if an intelligible person had said it, more like repeating the words of someone hit with a babbling curse. It made no sense in or out of context.

"Hinted implies subtly," James snorted with disgust.

"Climb as far up her brown nose as you can and make a comfrey nest with the rest of her eggs," Sirius mocked.

"Bet he wouldn't care one bit if he didn't know you were a Prefect," Sirius snapped.

James looked ready to light the book on fire any moment now. Percy had successfully insulted three people he cared about in one go! It took a lot of restraint on his part to remind himself Percy was still a child right now who shouldn't be transfigured into a pumpkin.

"If both sides keep standing around waiting for an apology instead of doing something, this war is going to be harder than I was thinking," Sirius grumbled as he remembered his own words.

"Burn that Harry. Burn that and shove the sod right up that Humongous Big Heads nose." James said at once with conviction.

"It's Ron's letter," Harry sighed, "I think he should get the right."

"That's fair," Sirius acknowledged.

The boys at least garnered a laugh for Harry's sarcasm at that, while Lily sighed deeply. She wished that hadn't been played off as a joke, but she supposed it was better than Harry getting mad at Ron's brother, and taking it out on Ron, which with his temper lately she wouldn't have even been surprised with.

"Less satisfying than up the nose," James sighed.

"But a proper in the moment response," Remus smiled.

Lily managed almost a happy giggle for this display, thinking Percy should send Ron more stupid letters if that's what got him to focus on his homework more.

Remus almost agreed, finding his utter dismissal of this perfect.

"What kind of odd look?" Lily asked with a torn expression, she really hoped Hermione wasn't going to try and give Ron a pep talk or something, it wouldn't do him any good right now.

"I think it was something close to surprise, maybe admiration," Harry tried to smile. "Ron wouldn't ever show it, but what Percy did cut all his siblings as bad as his parents, and so when Hermione saw Ron just turn right back to homework after what Ron considered further spurn must have gotten to her."

Lily couldn't help a small smile now as she kept going. It didn't make that letter feel any better, but it was nice to see Hermione acting like their friend rather than mother for a change.

"Doesn't she usually do that anyways when you're done?" Sirius chuckled.

"She'd certainly been threatening not to do it enough lately we were starting to believe her," Harry smiled in relief.

"No, I am," Sirius reminded as if anyone had forgotten.

"They're not even done with them though," James reminded.

"Still better to get her help while she was in a good mood, half the work done," Harry cheered, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

They all frowned as they realized Harry had taken that much more personally than they'd realized, he'd even played off the moment in here well enough they'd thought he'd just complete brushed it off, but clearly not.

"This is the same guy who went sobbing out into the freezing lake to check on his kid brother," Remus huffed in agreement. "How did he go from that to dismissing his whole family in so little time?"

"You've got me?" James sighed deeply.

Sirius hummed in agreement with that, even if he couldn't be there for Harry in the ways he wanted to be, he found comfort even the idea he could relate to Harry made him feel better.

"Oh, is Sirius making another appearance in the common room?" James asked as if confirming the date.

"Now he even has a safe place to do it from," Remus agreed almost as if bored at the idea.

Truth be told it made both of them smiled and were anxious at the same time. They couldn't easily forget where Sirius was in Harry's time and found him talking to Harry face to face would surely make him feel better for even a moment.

"Okay, that was blatantly doing homework for you," Lily snorted.

"I guess she truly was taking pity on us," Harry chuckled.

"I think this is the most he's complimented her in their entire friendship, she may be falling over from shock," Sirius chuckled.

"There's the proper response," James snickered.

"Sometimes I really can't tell when Hermione's being sarcastic," Remus smirked, "she must know that was a slip of the quill."

Harry just grinned and didn't reply.

"But I'm always serious, how could I be anything else?" Sirius cackled.

"She was actually saying your name you twit," Lily ground out, cursing that man's parents for cursing their child and everyone else in his life with this never-ending gag.

"You already sound so pleased with yourself," James snickered.

"I honestly believe I've been looking forward to this all week, Harry's letter just happened around the same time," Sirius grinned.

"I'm sure you'd have heard about it, and the twins would have helped to laugh the whole thing off by saying they'd slipped something in there, or any number of things." Remus rolled his eyes at her paranoia.

"Honestly, in a school full of magic, a funny shaped log wouldn't have lingered in her mind in the time it took for her to get to the stairs," James agreed.

"And that's exactly why he didn't," Sirius scoffed at Hermione's never ending complaints.

"She doesn't believe anyone can do anything without her help," James rolled his eyes.

"I understand the need for the haste, but why hadn't you told Ron about this already?" Lily asked.

"Same reason I'd yet to tell Hermione about my detentions," Harry shrugged uneasily as he brought this back up himself but still explained, "hadn't come up until I was caught at it."

"You have that philosophy far too often," Remus huffed.

"I always want to faint in surprise when you pass on such words of wisdom," Lily smiled at him while Sirius grinned and Harry took a moment to register the truth of those words he'd never considered before.

That caught their attention with surprise, Lily going on eagerly to see what that foul woman had been saying about her friend, and hopefully some colorful recanting of what Remus had to say about it.

James mouth dried considerably as he did remember this. She hadn't been subtle in taking a shot at Remus, and he already felt a nasty fear of where this was going.

Lily spluttered with indignation nearly before she'd gotten that out, and that had nothing on his two friends. They already had every reason in the world wanting that sherbet-reject to shrivel up and die, turns out they should have been going for her head all those years ago. Was this in fact finally the reason Remus had left his post? That would have happened right around the time he left Hogwarts, when Snape had released his name as working at Hogwarts!

Instead of shrinking away whenever this topic came up, Remus looked a tad concerned for this news, and not just for himself. It was very rare to find any other werewolves who even tried to maintain a normal lifestyle with a job and such, but with this bit of legislation being passed it was as if they were being told not to be even bother with that. He'd never complained of the restrictions of the jobs they could get because he recognized the danger in his own kind, but was the Ministry moving even further away in trying to phase out his whole kind, truly turn them into no more than animals that needed to be killed. How could they ever show how normal they could be if no one gave them a chance? Then he reminded himself what he'd long since came to the conclusion of, no one cared.

Remus blinked in a bit of surprise for that. From what he'd gathered, Harry hadn't much to do with him in his own time, so the fact that he had such a strong reaction like that really did warm him up a bit. He really hadn't thought it possible for a long time anyone outside his friends could see him as any more than a monster, but first Lily and now Harry...

"I'm sure she doesn't like them any better," Remus scoffed to try and lighten back up the mood, at least trying to pretend as he always did he hadn't heard a word about this. "House-elves do have a certain human shape but aren't, so they're in the-"

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs to get him to shut up, no one wanted to hear him play this off right now.

Sirius knew he'd rather lose his dessert privileges than indulge in any such nonsense, and wished Hermione would quit harping on that.

Harry thought the same, if only because it left such a tight feeling of unease in him he felt the urge to cry and refused to understand why.

"No, that would actually be useful," Remus snorted lightly, before wincing and wishing he hadn't spoken at all for the nasty look his friends gave him for that.

"You'd really think at some point she'd realize, no one cares!" James threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I've never heard something so idiotic in my life," James deadpanned, "and I've lived with these two for seven years."

"I, really wish Sirius was making a joke right now," Lily agreed.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment, or-" Sirius began in confusion before Remus shushed him.

"That'll be the day," Remus scoffed while Harry frowned at the idea, he really didn't like the sound of that.

Lily's voice shook with pity there, to which Sirius was both grateful for, and wanted to make some snide comment at her for. Thankfully she kept going loudly before he could act on either.

"Tactless as ever," Lily grumbled at him, ignoring her own increasing worry at those confirmed fears. Surely if this was a real problem though Sirius would be more concerned, he at least had a like for Hagrid even without knowing what all he'd done for Harry. This wasn't necessarily a death sentence if someone didn't come back from a mission on schedule...

"I think we need to have a refresher course on those talks about reassuring people Sirius," Remus groaned, as that had helped no one at any point it seemed.

"We haven't been," Harry said just a touch indignity, "you were the only one I'd asked."

"Well I know that now," Sirius rolled his eyes in exasperation, causing Harry to back down.

"And just why would you think that would cheer them up?" Lily began anxiously as she fought the compulsion to stick a muzzle on Sirius. "You were already spotted once, what makes you think it a good idea to have another go?"

"Stop being such a worry wart Lily," James scoffed at once. "He needs out of that place more, even if it is at sporadic times like Hogsmeade weekends."

"Where was this attitude last year?" Remus demanded uneasily, this conversation just kept getting worse with everything his last best friend said.

"Last year Sirius was on the run, getting all the air he needed, so I was just worried about him covering his tail," James scowled at Remus for the lack of backup. "Now I'm worried what he'll do if he doesn't get out more."

Sirius longed for the time where he could have basked in having a whole conversation about him, now he just looked miserable and didn't account for anyone, he just wanted to forget about the existence of that house and his whole damn future.

"I mean, I suppose so long as Kingsley is still pushing for Australia or something, whatever Malfoy said could be brushed off easily enough," Remus tried to say with some encouragement that fell flat to all worried parties.

"Then don't go near Malfoy," James scoffed. "Honestly, Padfoot knows every hole of that area better than the local cats."

"Doesn't make the risk any less," Lily sighed without too much of a fight, recognizing whatever Sirius wanted to do, he'd do it with or without anyone's support.

"You really are breaking my heart here pup," Sirius tried for a flippant tone while Harry eyed his godfather with great worry. Ever since he'd left that platform, Harry had an ever growing fear of the next time Sirius left that house, leaving his tongue paralyzed and unable to respond...

Sirius actually recoiled, suddenly looking ready to burst into tears any moment as he had concrete proof. Merlin's sake, he really had lost his mind if he thought even for a moment he'd been talking to James-

Lily had just huffed and rolled her eyes at the stupid comment, she didn't even seem to realize Sirius had taken it so personally while James kept his eyes firmly on his best mate now.

Remus reacted on instinct by smacking Sirius upside the head for that, muttering, "would you rather him be like you, not thinking before you speak."

Sirius hardly seemed to realize what had been spoken as he whispered back, "that hurt you know."

Remus wasn't sure if he meant the comment, or the blow, as he rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't damage anything important."

"All of me is important!" He shot back with almost a pout, managing to keep himself distracted at least for a few seconds while Lily finished.

Remus was looking from James to Sirius uneasily, as Lily looked up to indicate she was done and seemed to realize for the first time that had bothered the two, so Remus began ardently, "wonder if we should take a quick break again. I'm sure someone should check on the baby's dipper, and I-"

"Yeah, that's great Moony. Padfoot, can I borrow you for a moment," James snapped, not waiting for any preamble as he made his way for the stairs and Sirius followed reluctantly.

* This one gets under my skin out of confusion. Either Harry has completely forgotten the fact that he was the one who had to trick Malfoy into giving Dobby that sock, otherwise he could have just done it himself and set Dobby free if that was his intentions, or he really thought Hermione found a way around this law and it's just never addressed. This is a real problem with the narrative between two and five that is never brought up.

I know that's a really subjective number, considering by most math there would only be about 300, but JK has said there were actually almost a thousand. I personally more invasion somewhere in the middle, though I imagine the population slump from the war and other variables actually makes the number fluctuated between those two numbers throughout the years, so who really knows.

*** This moment genuinely annoys me for two reasons. The twins specifically say the purple half is the 'cure' pill for their works, and this is proven in the last chapter where they gave purple pills to the first years to wake them up, so they did indeed give the right pill. Problem two with this, is then, what do you mean you gave her the wrong pill? Either you color swapped a batch in which case you lot are far more idiotic than I thought for all your hard work doing this, or this is just some serious (shut up Sirius!) errors with the flowing work. Twice in one chapter man...


	15. THE HOGWART'S HIGH INQUISITOR

"Padfoot mate, you don't really think you think," he cut himself off and went crosseyed before trying again, "I mean that Harry is-" then he stopped again for the ludicrous statement couldn't even manage to pass his lips.

Sirius watched with some distant form of amusement as James struggled to find words, a concept in itself, as he ran his fingers hard through his hair and tried to find a way to answer. "What if I do? All those stories we've heard about what happens to those in Azkaban, what makes you think that didn't happen to me after twelve years? Turning into a dog could only have saved me so much-"

"Don't," James snapped, his eyes darkening by the second. "I can't stand thinking of you like that, it's never going to happen."

"It's already happening Prongs," Sirius whispered back. "What if we can't stop this, it's all supposed to happen in less than a year! People will start going missing, and then Dumbledore's going to come around and get you and Lily to go into hiding, and I'll do it again, I swear I will, I'll hunt down that rat bastard and-"

"Think what you're saying," James snapped, fighting hard not to knock him upside the head while he did. "Future tense mate, we'll find a way to stop this happening well before then, so stop acting like it's inevitable already. You're not going to turn into that, I refuse."

Sirius still couldn't seem to take his words to heart, gazing at a picture Lily had hung up on the wall of a forest that had branches swaying in the wind, an occasional critter flipping in and out of sight. It reminded him of the Forbidden Forest, where he'd had so many happy memories, and it scared him how tainted those already were, and kept reminding him it was only going to get worse. "It's my worst nightmare come to life, I don't know how but the universe did that to me. Made me go as mad as my folks, in a different way I'll grant but all the same, and then jailing me right back there."

"It's not going to happen," James repeated, and would keep doing so until it sunk through his thick head.

They met eyes, Sirius almost absently saying, "you have always been around to remind me of that," and then quickly flipped subjects before even the notion of this no longer existing could linger, "honestly though, I thought you were going to bring me up here to rib me for talking to Harry like that."

James snorted and rolled his eyes, forcing himself to relax as he seemed to think he'd accomplished something. "I'd be remissed if you didn't tell Harry he wasn't having enough fun in his life. I still think you should show up at Hogsmeade and show those three what we used to get up to, Harry needs more fun in his life and he's clearly not getting it from his friends."

Sirius bit at his lip as he realized Harry wasn't getting that from him either, he'd been far to consumed with his own pity party, but at James words, he was now at least holding out hope it would come true soon.

James watched as Sirius was already starting to fall back into wallowing, and he couldn't let that stand. Sirius was usually his inspiration to start all the madness they got up to, seeing him so low now truly was doing something to him he could hardly put into words, and he desperately hoped that the next time Sirius' name came up it would be in some form of his release back into a normal life already, he'd suffered long enough for it. For now he grasped his shoulder with a tight squeeze before actually managing his old laugh back and saying, "come on now, let's see what kind of mass destruction the school causes in rebellion against whatever that stupid comment of Percy's was. Dumbledore not in charge, pfft, Fudge couldn't do any such thing."

Sirius did at least smile as he followed him back for that, any talk of setting Umbridge in the area with the twins was bound to cause a laugh, which he was hoping to hear from soon. The methods she used on Harry weren't going to hold long.

Lily and Remus weren't quite as flippantly careless about Sirius' comment, but they held their tongues about it because it's not like their Sirius had, and they really were trying not to lash out at him for something he hadn't said yet.

Harry most of all wanted to persist on the subject, as he felt like he'd let Sirius down in some way, but when his godfather flopped down beside him with a normal smile in place Harry just couldn't bring himself to bring it all up again when James had clearly seemed to comfort him about it. So as James picked up the book and began, they were all feeling almost slightly hopeful again this was all going to somehow work out.

"Urgh, as if you don't get enough of that around the castle, now you've got closeups," James crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Why do I already have a bad feeling about whatever the hell that made up title is?" Remus sighed.

"You've got good instincts," Harry's eyes were already narrowed with dislike.

James struggled to understand even the first sentence! What did that mean, the Ministry had control over their school?

Lily had her lips very tightly pursed as her mind flew through the ramifications of that. Hogwarts had always been of its own body and under the guide of the current Headmaster. This had allowed for a lot of free will inside the school outside of Ministry influence which many considered a good thing, as it left the children to grow up and form their own opinions of what they thought were right and wrong. Now their own government was more than actively stepping in as more than just a substitute teacher role? Just what the hell was Umbridge going to have these students doing? Aside from torturing them!

James looked to his friends like he was hoping for some kind of clarification from them, but both seemed just as confounded by the idea.

"Did they have to post his title? I find that entirely unnecessary as of course his Junior would agree with him," Sirius scoffed.

"I just wish they hadn't said his last name, marks a bad light on all the Weasleys," Remus rolled his eyes for poor Arthur and his reaction to further seeing his son agreeing with all this.

"Then they should talk to the Headmaster, and deal with this in house as it's always been," Lily stated absently, still trying to wrap her head around how this abrupt change had just sprung up overnight and it was entirely allowed.

"Oh that's even better, they've been at this since the summer," James said in exasperation, already a spiel of comments he could imagine his parents saying if they'd heard about this.

"Let's put Percy in detention with her and see how long he holds that," Harry said grimly as he rubbed absently at the back of his hand.

"He'd have to be set up to be put in there, and even then I'll bet he could kiss her arse out of it," Sirius growled, perhaps even more darkly than he should have just for having to watch Harry do that.

"By not teaching them! Yeah, I'd say that's revolutionary!" Remus balked at the absurdity.

Lily had to swallow a bitter taint as she almost realized what a good idea that could have been coming from anyone else. Abysmal teachers like Lockhart and Snape wouldn't have been a problem then...but that's not what this job was really doing, and she knew it full well, so didn't bother speaking it.

"I do not believe that," James scoffed. "If my folks had heard the Ministry was weaseling around inside Hogwarts they'd have thrown a fit. They never have before and they're just suddenly doing it now after they've spent the summer campaigning what a mentally unstable person Dumbledore was? That dosen't seem the least bit suspicious it's all happening the same time?"

"Ah, well at least that support suddenly made sense," Remus scowled.

Remus suddenly felt such a sharp twist of fear in him he retched on the spot and felt lucky he didn't vomit. He'd never been afraid of attention before, unavoidable when you made friends with James and Sirius, but the fact that his name was actually being thrown out like that honestly made him question how he was even still alive. After all, the last werewolf that had ended up in the papers had a hole hunt formed around him-

Sirius gently cut off this train of thought by smacking Remus upside the head and saying, "knock it off Moony, if they haven't done anything to you before now they're not going to suddenly start just because the Ministry is pushing in. You're long gone, clearly not making a bid to come back, and Dumbledore's got you doing that shitty arse underground work that leaves you so far off the radar anyways it's a miracle if you'll even be reading this."

Remus almost found the comfort somewhere in there, at least his body stopped trying to throw up.

Harry was honestly curious enough to interrupt what this mysterious underground work was. He'd long since gathered it had something to do with Remus staying in contact with other werewolves, but he still longed for details he decided against asking even now because it was such a touchy subject for the poor guy.

"While I applaud them," Lily nodded sadly, "it's almost a backfire on them as well, for the same reason Tonks and Arthur haven't quit their post yet. They do more good holding their tongue and staying on the inside."

"That method ceases being useful when it's all you end up doing," James scowled, though at Harry for holding his tongue far too often.

Sirius gave a merry little applause for that bit at least, thankful that this had been put into the paper at all the way it was running lately.

James saw red as he realized four days had already been enough to put that mark into his skin. Years later and it was still there. None of them had the delusion this wasn't going to happen to Harry again, and he doubted he could read through it without screaming some more no matter how little good it would do.

"I immediately like where his thoughts went," Sirius pipped up at once as the same grin appeared, thinking of that foul toad trying to inspect someone like McGonagall and blissfully aware who was going to come up on top.

The others caught on as well, and now they were all grinning in anticipation of watching McGonagall have a thing or two to say to that pitiful excuse for a teacher.

"What are the odds she won't be inspecting any of the ones Harry's in?" Remus said without a trace of hope.

"Non existent," James said without looking up.

"I find it an actual miracle he didn't just flat give you a T," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Lily almost felt a twitch appear on her lips again at his alliterations, he'd always gotten a giggle out of her when he did this, but she forced herself not to react.

"I'm guessing he gave you an O after you cheated off of someone else's," James rolled his eyes.

"Why bother?" Remus asked curiously.

"I can already hear the lecture she'd give about how I should have tried harder or some nonsense," Harry sighed.

Lily frowned at him for that, wishing he would try harder in this class even if he did hate the teacher, but at least holding herself back.

"I commend you, considering at some point I'd have just chucked the cauldron in his face," James snorted.

"I don't actually believe that," Remus snorted, "I can already imagine her near the end of this crying every five seconds if she dosen't get all O's."

"Is she going to keep going with this?" James groaned as he eyed the pages with misery. He'd been starting this thinking of more Umbridge carnage, but instead he'd been suffering through some OWL memories he'd have rather forgotten.

"Err, dosen't P mean-"

"Poor, yeah," Sirius said with chipper, "only one letter off from acceptable, so really they're not wrong."

"I always thought it stood for Dunderhead," James grinned.

"Stop naming things after yourself James," Remus quipped.

"This is most likely going to be an ongoing topic until next year, when she'll move onto complaining about her NEWT grades two years too early," Sirius groaned.

James gasped wildly, and then frantically prodded the page with his wand as if insisting to find a flaw.

"What do you mean Hermione doesn't know all these by heart?" Sirius agreed mildly. "The way she was obsessing over them, even having done some pre exams last year, you'd really think she'd know that."

"I'm actually quite sure she only took note of what the top grade was and didn't care about the others," Remus rolled his eyes.

Causing all five of them to giggle.

"Why is that a recurring thing, it always makes me sad," Lily sighed.

"Someone needs to tell her she's getting a P for her sense of humor, see if she lightens up any then," James agreed.

Harry laughed unexpectedly, then looked around and realized that while they were smiling, he realized it was at his reaction, and he blinked in shock.

"Nope," Sirius grinned, "though I don't understand why they'd want to give you a letter grade that would make someone think, well that's better than B for Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"You're an idiot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Whatever gets you through it love," Lily grinned as the thought had never crossed her mind Harry would do any such thing. Even while being at his breaking point he'd still been putting effort into his homework, there was just no way he'd do so poorly on all his exams if he just tried a little harder.

Causing them all to snort with laughter as they suddenly imagined the wonderful idea of if the twins had taken her class and the mayhem that could have been.

"Because that's the important part," James said grimly as his eyes flashed protectively to his son again, wondering if it was possible Umbridge's detentions could somehow get worse if she realized Harry wasn't going to take her message.

Lily felt an interesting struggle taking place in her mind. She'd disliked Trelawney from the instant she'd been introduced because of insisting her son was to die, which would set any mother on edge. Yet she hated Umbridge quantifiably worse for actually hurting her baby. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to see happen here, but she wouldn't deny she was listening just as curiously as the others.

"Can't deny I'm already intrigued," Remus said grudgingly. "Trelawney shouldn't have had much to do with her before now considering how rarely she leaves her own tower, which means her ire with this woman must come from something we haven't seen yet."

"Maybe just from students like Parvati and Lavender who might have talked about her," Sirius offered without much thought, but immediately corrected himself when he realized, "but they haven't exactly gone out of their way disliking Umbridge themselves yet either."

"I'm sure it's just the insult of her class being inspected," James snorted.

"They say dreams are where you live out your fantasies," Sirius snickered.

"Drowning, isn't it? The other two are nouns," Remus said absently.

"Nouns can be the subject," Lily shrugged, "it depends on verb usage and-"*

"Please, this is why I was grateful Hogwarts never subjected us to Muggle classes, don't start on things I don't care about," Sirius groaned.

Harry felt a sudden whack at the base of his skull for some unknown reason, absently reaching up and brushing at the back of his head as if to make sure it was still attached but ultimately ignoring the sensation.

Though it was getting harder by the moment as Umbridge's questions really were starting to dig something out of the base of his skull that was beginning to build up quite a bit of pressure...

Remus felt an odd smile flicker across his face as some old Greek myth came to mind about the Seer Cassandra who nobody believed truly was one, but he didn't point this out to the others for once as he was more invested hearing about this.

"Was the pause because she had to think about it and count that on the spot?" James mocked.

James was almost amused by this, as normally Trelawney spat out so many predictions in a lesson you couldn't shut the woman up. Now Umbridge was asking for one, and that was offensive?

"I think she made herself worse by doing that," Sirius sighed. "Should have just stuck with the first thing she said, then later and a lot more randomly spouted something at least generally more threatening than that generic mess."

Lily actually had to catch herself to stop from laughing. Even knowing Trelawney was a true Seer still didn't make this waffle intimidating in the least, but she despised Umbridge to agree with her on any level so she held it in.

"Yeah, there it is," James said tartly, least she could always fall back on that one, though how she managed to make that less believable every time was an actual achievement on some level.

"Urgh, having to listening to croaking all lesson, I'd rather live with a cicada," Sirius rubbed at his ears in thought.

"I'm not sure if that's ignorance or delusions," Remus sighed.

"So were there?" Lily asked.

"Don't know, never checked," Harry shrugged.

"Even if there weren't, I'm honestly wondering if she'd have just made you reread it from the start or something," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Man I wish I was more surprised, actually I'm just sad for the wasted time," James sighed.

"People get that a lot around her it seems," Sirius mused, he didn't always like Hermione either, but she never failed to impress him with her knowledge at least.

"That was already established," Lily cocked her head to the side as she tried to understand, "what was the goal of her doing this?"

James shushed her and read quickly to find out, if anyone could find a way to push Umbridge's buttons and make something interesting happen in that class, he'd bet on Hermione.

"She is sitting right next to you when she started this," Remus rolled his eyes, "don't tell me she really thinks you'd stay out of it."

"She simply asked a question of what she was supposed to do now she's done with the work," Sirius tried for an innocent tone, ineffective as he wasn't likely to receive an answer for that anymore than Hermione.

"Every bit of that was the most ludicrous thing I've yet heard her say," Remus said faintly.

"She read the whole book, how can she still try to make that claim!" Lily demanded.

"I'm beginning to wonder if there's something conceded about her," James said deadpan.

"I'm actually wondering how many of the students knew that at the end of the year anyways," Remus suddenly blinked in surprise.

"Not the point," Harry grumbled.

Lily made a guttural, maddening noise of frustration for Harry suffering through that all over again, and she vented on the only person available. "Harry James, stop antagonizing her! It's clearly done you no good, after multiple people have warned you to stop, and you are suffering more consequences than doing any good!"

Harry flushed with anger for a moment, considered snapping back he was doing more good than anyone else was even bothering to try, but then considered the fact that snapping at her would do absolutely no good. His mother was simply angry with the situation and he did not want to start yelling at them like he had been his friends in the past, so he simply held his tongue and nodded absently, also failing to mention whatever he did he couldn't go back and stop himself from doing in here now could he.

"Who takes away house points after you find out someone has detention?" James demanded in outrage. "What's McGonagall playing at, he's already suffering enough for this!"

"I guess she did warn him not to continue messing with her," Remus sighed, "this is her way of punishing him for disobeying her as well."

"That did not make this feel better," Sirius scowled.

"The worst part is she doesn't even know what's going on in those detentions," Lily groaned miserably, just begging for the sharp eyed woman to spot Harry's hand and raise hell for it any day now.

"I do love how she says confine shouting at Harry, not stop it," Sirius muttered.

"Maybe she wouldn't if she knew that part," James seethed.

"Are we really the only ones insisting on how dumb it is you haven't mentioned this," Lily demanded. "What about Hermione?"

"Still haven't told her yet either," Harry muttered as he shifted uneasily in his seat, still wishing this would stop being mentioned all together.

"So she does know?" Remus yelped at this glossed over development.

"I guess Ron did tell her at some point," Harry blinked in surprise, he'd been too angry to realize what he was saying to whom at the time. "Honestly I'm grateful she didn't give me another go to Dumbledore speech, so I'm grateful I wasn't around when she did find out."

"Hermione was the one who started the last two fights!" Sirius couldn't help but defend. "Harry more than likely would have sat in the back of the class and not said a word if it wasn't for her."

"You can't blame Harry's action on what Hermione decides to do," Lily scolded.

"Doesn't help one of his mates isn't trying to fix this problem either," Remus shrugged.

James actually began wriggling in place in sudden excitement. If he'd put money on anyone giving that toad a run for her galleons it would be McGonagall, there was no way she could push her around like she just had to Trelawney.

"And that was with the minimal effort," James applauded, while Lily rolled her eyes at him even if she did agree.

"What'd he do?" James demanded on the same breath as he'd finished.

"He was trying to place it on Parvati's shoulder," Harry shrugged.

"Less inventive than I was hoping," Remus sighed.

James made a little squee noise when he was done with that response while Sirius was already full blown laughing, he knew McGonagall was his favorite teacher for a reason!

Harry and Remus shared a triumphant smile while Lily said impatiently, "James if you don't keep going, I will," though her eyes were sparkling with their own amusement for their old head of house.

James clutched the book to him protectively as he kept going with glee.

James couldn't do it though, he immediately burst out laughing again, and this time Lily couldn't deny joining in. This was hardly the fiery pit they wanted to toss Umbridge into for what she'd done to Harry, but even seeing someone hold their own against her in this way was the most satisfying thing that had happened so far!

"I would pay anything to get my hands on those notes," Sirius' grin was slipping past amusement right into evil. "See just what her version of, I need a burn healing charm looks like."

"Technically McGonagall hasn't gained a detention yet, so she's still doing better than you," Sirius smirked even as he was leaning forward eagerly to hear more of this.

"It is indeed a good mark he's already got the larger portion of the body by the end of the first day," James agreed absently, his eyes still eagerly hoping for more between Umbridge and McGonagall.

"She really shouldn't act so thrilled, sets a bad impression," Remus snorted.

"Favorite teacher," James repeated warmly, hoping that would leave some kind of impact on Harry in Umbridge's next class. He wasn't the only one defining Umbridge.

"I don't think anyone's yet called him that," Sirius' face crinkled as that registered.

"Does sound kind of weird, even if it is appropriate," Remus agreed.

"He's already been doing that, surely he can't do even worse damage," Lily said with unease even she didn't believe.

Remus couldn't help but wince for that, thinking that was far more likely luck depending on the questions she was asking.

"That's she's the only one being treated like scum? Can't imagine why that would be," Sirius snorted.

"I'm sure that's a look," James snorted, his liking for Grubbly-Plank going up somewhat. Sure she was having to stand in for Hagrid, but at least she wasn't going behind his back and trying to rub up to Umbridge, he could respect that.

"At his own stupidity," James emphasized. "Everyone seems to skip that bit!"

"Oh, thank you Harry," James groaned, that hadn't been what he meant at all.

Harry shrugged without remorse.

"What was that one even for?" Lily all but screeched. "Doesn't she still have to give a reason!"

Baby Harry began squirming in unease underneath his toy so she forced herself not to keep going while James pushed on, mostly because the answer was no, that woman didn't have to give a reason to anyone about anything she did. It was becoming quite clear that was the scariest part of all to look forward to.

"That would still cause enough of a stir in the community for it to be relevant and absolutely worth it," James tried to keep his voice even as he explained to Harry. "McGonagall's tough as they come, even if she did have to leave for a time she'd be right back the next day because Dumbledore would never let that stand, and he'd have support from those realizing how ludicrous this all is getting."

"Please tell me you've been seeing reports in the Daily Prophet about more people saying what a problem this is," Lily agreed.

Harry just shrugged though, Hermione only passed along very certain things, and she hadn't said anything about this. If the wider wizarding world did care about what was going on, he wasn't hearing about it.

"Tie her to the Whomping Willow?" Sirius suggested at once.

"Transfigure her into a cat and introduce her to Fang?" James smirked.

"Introduce her to the Mermaids of the Black Lake," Remus said just a touch bitterly.

"See how long she could survive in the Forbidden Forest," Harry envisioned the fun.

"Poison?" Lily couldn't seem to stop herself taking in much to all the boys amusement.

"Ha!" Lily pumped a fist in triumph, "two against you lot!"

"That's fair," Sirius miraculously gave in.

"Can it at least be a slow acting one?" James contended.

"I can work that," Lily agreed.

"Well I mean, she's not wrong," Remus snorted.

"Yet I don't really see how that's so different from your first two years either," Sirius sighed.

"At least until the end of the year," Lily still looked for that bright spot.

"Should I be worried that's how this is starting?" James looked bemused as he kept going.

"That's really not that farfetched an idea," Remus shrugged, "we had to do it a few years as well. Our teachers never got to the level of trying to kill us mind you, but they weren't all stellar either."

"I don't know, remember Novak? Considering how many spells he used backfired on himself, I think at some point that counts as attempted murder when he still encouraged us to trust him," Lily shrugged.

"Hang on," Sirius mimed cleaning out his ears, "alright read that bit again."

James ignored him.

"She had yet to say otherwise," Harry rubbed at his ear at all her remembered lectures.

Harry looked honestly bemused Hermione had taken his words to heart like that, no matter how much he still vouched for them being true.

"Just like you did at the end of last year," James agreed, "that seemed to help you out loads, even with a competent if murderous teacher."

"Naw, you're the first teacher he thought of Moony," Sirius chuckled.

"Shut up Padfoot," Remus said around a smile.

"Not with that Umbridge woman about anyways," Lily said grimly, as it had honestly been a good idea for a moment for Dumbledore to summon him to the castle at his random choosing, and just incidentally running into Harry and his friends, for a few hours, no one in the school would really question that too much if it had worked out that way. That pink frosted lump of dragon dung though would put a wrench into anything like that.

Harry looked at his dad in bewilderment, before looking at the other three who all looked just as surprised at the answer as him to his relief.

"Honestly, for a moment there I thought she was leading up to herself," James snorted.

"I mean, I suppose she's not got the wrong idea," Lily pulled gently on a strand of hair as she thought about it, "but no offense love, I haven't really seen you with the patience yet to be teaching anyone much."

"Ron was better at teaching you chess than you were explaining how a phone worked," Sirius snorted in agreement.

"Oh stop picking on him," Remus scolded, though Harry hardly looked offended, he still had a politely puzzled expression on his face like he was still nursing the idea and had hardly heard them. "I don't find it a bad idea at all, Harry was the only thirteen year old I've ever seen to manage a Patronus, even you two hadn't managed that until fifth year to find out what you were going to turn into only a few months later. If Harry could master that, I'm sure passing that knowledge along wouldn't be much of a challenge."

"There's a difference between being a good student and being as good a teacher," Sirius shrugged, but he backed down altogether as Harry was starting to look a little hurt they were still giggling more than anything at the idea.

James kept himself going in hopes Hermione would come to some conclusion this should be more a group effort between the three than Harry starting secret lessons to teach these two anything.

"Really Harry, you apparently spent all summer complaining about this bit, but you need this part explained," James rolled his eyes.

"I really am loving the reverse of this conversation," Sirius gave a forced smile. "How are you the one saying you shouldn't get credit for doing this now, when it was you shouting at them you did all this single handedly to them at that house?"

Harry was scarlet by now, both from remembered shock of his friends throwing this at him, and how true that comment was that put on the spot he still didn't want to admit all the things he'd done no matter how angry he'd been he'd felt ignored.

"Can't have it both ways," Lily told him gently as she seemed to read his mind.

"Actually neither am I," James frowned lightly from the book to Harry now. "At most they're still pulling your leg, what's the anger for?"

Harry brushed at his scar without comment, a deep look in his eyes that shot a thrill of fear through James instantly promising him he actually didn't want to know the answer, so he quickly moved on.

Remus let out a low whistle of surprise as he told Harry, "when you get angry, you really ramp yourself right to the top at once."

"Harry doesn't do anything half way," Sirius said halfheartedly, Harry leaning back into the couch looking miserable he'd been caught shouting at them again, and they hadn't done anything even remotely close to deserving it this time.

James had winced at every blow Harry dealt his friends, of all the pain and fear his son had suffered without anyone there to help, how even hearing it first hand hadn't quite left them with the reality Harry had lived through. To them it was all in a distant future, something they hoped never had to happen to him and so without underplaying the events happening they kept pushing past these terrible moments because it would ultimately help him to remember them just to find a way he'd never have to live through them. Most of all, James wanted more than anything for Harry never to have to witness what had happened in that graveyard, to Cedric.

Harry was aware, and very grateful no one had snapped at him for this in here. He distantly saw himself doing these things, pushed into this uncontrollable anger from something he didn't understand, but one truth stood out his friends would never insinuate any such thing, so he was grateful for the silence ringing in here.

"Well there's a distraction if ever there was one," Sirius blinked slowly to refocus off of Harry's anger, how everything he'd said had been all too real.

Lily opened her mouth, wanting to say something in comfort as well as push for a change of subject, but Harry was still looking miserable and rubbing hard at his scar again, so she was afraid to push him while he was too vulnerable.

"Wonder how she got hold of that," Sirius happily shot off, as always just looking for something to say in the awkward silence.

"She's too proud asking the house-elves for a batch," Remus played along, "I more imagine she might have asked Madam Pomfrey for some, given a vague reason as to why she wanted it."

"I'll buy that," Sirius said, looking hopefully at Harry like he was hoping for confirmation, but even if he had ever bothered to ask Harry spoke nothing for or against the idea.

Harry twitched harder than ever in his seat, his eyes swimming with pain as he yearned to understand how it all fit together, and terrified of learning the answer.

HPHPHPHPHP

I probably came off pretty anti government in this chapter, and I swear I'm not actually trying to wipe up a rebellion and start an anarchy, I just always found it really extreme that clearly since it's conception Hogwarts seemed to have stood as it's own body, but suddenly the government were stepping in and causing a ton of reforms, and the public seems generally okay with this? Of course the Daily Prophet likely didn't post more outrage than a couple people quitting, I don't even know how it would have been put into the narrative, I'd just have liked to see more people be confused and angry about this sudden regime change going on inside the most popular wizarding school in Britain.

*I was actually never very good at English, I have no clue what the actual answer was, thank you for nothing four years of high school.

**I pointed this out in the last book, but this is now a blatant mismatch of the house tables. Last time it was the Hufflepuffs on their other side as Harry had to walk past them, this time it's Ravenclaws? Someone must have been right in saying it does switch up on a regular basis.


	16. IN THE HOG'S HEAD

 

James gave the book an easy toss to Sirius, who caught it while still eying Harry, waiting for some kind of que from him to say he wanted to keep going and wasn't lost in thought. He came out of his reverie by gazing at them, and then plastering a smile in place as he demanded, "was it really so preposterous I could be a teacher?"

"Did I not make it clear how painful to my legacy it would be for someone of my last name to hold any such position!" James said dramtacilly.

"James, he wasn't awake for that part," Lily reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he thought back.

Sirius quickly said though, "hey, if you end up being the new DADA teacher and break that stupid curse, more power to you pup! I'll be happy to hear it, just, you know, it'll be a shock is all. You've yet to show any kind of want for the thing."

"We were just as surprised as you," Lily agreed, "but if it's something you think you'll enjoy doing for your friends, I know it'll be fun to hear."

Harry beamed now, thoroughly distracted and eagerly waving Sirius on as he thought to himself they just might enjoy these next few months of his school, for the first time in this book it seemed hoping he was going to enjoy this feeling he was getting.

"That's got to be some kind of record for her, I was under the impression she always spoke of what was on her mind." James chuckled.

"Have you forgotten her third year, she did a pretty good job of avoiding them and not talking about things when she sets her mind to it," Remus shrugged.

Sirius tensed with disgust, his lip curling as he glanced again at those words upon Harry. Though faded like an old scar, he truly did wonder how long he'd suffered to gain them this level of permanence. He did not see the Umbridge situation getting better anytime soon, so he dared not even ask if Harry had to live through the problem again.

"She really does do that a lot," James rolled his eyes, "what's she always trying to say her and Ron instead of just her for."

"Keeping his attention I suppose," Remus shrugged.

Lily hummed at the idea before nodding to herself and saying, "you really do seemed to have taken a shine to this then."

"I like the idea of helping my friends out like this," Harry agreed, a small smile still in place, "though I still can't wrap my head around the idea of teaching Hermione anything she dosen't know."

"Same reason she attends classes instead of thinking she can learn better from her books," Remus shrugged, "she has acknowledged she's not the smartest person ever, to those who deserve it."

"A feat I can not comprehend," Sirius deadpanned.

"That was almost sad," Lily frowned, "he really shouldn't be that scared to say his opinion around you-" she cut herself off when she saw how depressed Harry was at the reminder his best friend had been so tiptoeing around him of late just so Harry wouldn't randomly start shouting at him.

"Because that was a relevant part of that statement," Sirius snorted.

Harry had to fight hard against the urge to put his face in his hands in shame, that he'd been going off on his friends so much of late that Hermione had to say that at all over some stupid little thing. What was wrong with him lately?

James made a pfft noise straight away, while Sirius rolled his eyes and immediately began ticking off, "the Weasley's already account for four, than that Luna girl, that Ernie prat, I am positive there are even more, oh that stalker kid Colin, um I'll bet his brother don't remember his name off the top of me head, I'll bet Cho would even ask for private lessons-"

Harry picked up a pillow and tried to press it against Sirius' face, the two wrestling this way for a moment before Sirius finally won by ducking away and smoothing his hair back, telling Harry wickledy, "didn't hear a denial on your part for those," then immediately began reading loudly before Harry was too tempted to start again.

"Everybody's always interested in what I have to say," Sirius smirked.

"Not always," Harry grumbled, ignoring his twitching smile for that recurring joke.

"Oh really? I thought she'd let you use her office and everything?" Remus chuckled in agreement.

Now it was Sirius' turn to scowl at Harry. Despite his deep set worry for his inevitable future mindset, he actually had been offended by Harry's lack of faith in him doing his part to keep his own arse covered, happily telling him as much, "first of all, exactly how stupid do you think I am? Hogsmeade is my home turf-"

"I just-" Harry tried to defend, but Sirius waved him down with a roll of his eyes, though his tone hardly lightened, "yeah, yeah, you're worried about me, but can I get just a little credit I know what I'm doing?"

Harry gazed at him with nothing but worry, there wasn't a trace of him showing he thought for even a second Sirius' words had given him comfort, and for a moment Sirius' cockyness started to ebb and he was getting worried just what had Harry so adamant about this, but he brushed that off and rolled his eyes, turning back to the book and just hoping he'd prove to his godson this was unnecessary.

Sirius gazed pitifully at that, looking hopefully at Harry to see if his best friend stating his exact problem had gotten through to Harry at all, but if anything it made his face draw tighter with worry. At least Harry grasped his problem, even if he still wasn't ready to concede there had to be a solution.

"Because that was the important part of that statement," James scowled hatefully for Hermiones priorities.

"She's only said that three times and now she can scold him for not saying it?" Sirius scoffed.

"She was on a good track there for a moment," Remus said forlornly, still bitter that no one, especially not himself, had done anything to get Sirius' name clear before the Pettigrew scandal had been revealed.

"That last bit wasn't relevant though, considering no one knows about the Dark Mark," Lily sighed.

Sirius grumbled something that was as close to acknowledging this to be true as was going to happen.

"I should feel privileged I take up so much of your time," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Hermione is a magic unto herself," Lily said wistfully, wishing she could ask that girl for her study habits as even out of school Lily still felt bogged down at work.

"Important distinctions she might have to teach Harry," James snickered in remembrance.

"It would be a easier to check against the one's who couldn't go," James snorted.

"I think Filch does it this way to purposely annoy us," Remus reminded.

"Finally some acknowledgement I can be happy about," Sirius smirked, though there was a sour edge to it.

"Obviously it was because he was trying out a new-" Remus elbowed Sirius before he could continue with the dumb joke.

"I don't care how pretty Cho is, I find it really hard to believe that experience skipped your mind," James shook his head.

Harry wanted to chuckle as that look of confusion crossed them again as well at the reminder, but the laughter died before it could even get started. Still, he had no more clue than them what the whole instance had been about, and he had no want to make his head burst from this tiny detail.

"But that would have made it perfect," James blinked in confusion of Hermione's logic. "You could get together and be at a perfectly normal volume and still not be overheard."

"I can see her idea though," Remus said fairly, "out of the way where no one goes, so even if some passerby had passed and heard a snippet, well this just erased that problem all together."

"Still, the cover of a crowd beats how suspicious that will look," Sirius shrugged.

Harry felt his nose crinkling in distaste as he remembered the smell, helping to distract him from remembering why goats should mean something in particular about the barkeep he remembered seeing.

"Really gives the place its own feel," Remus rolled his eyes.

Harry frowned as the image back played, like he was sure his mind should linger on this image for a moment longer in recognition of something, but that was ridiculous, how could he begin to know anything about some random man under a veil, err, woman.

Harry's skin twitched even harder at staring at her even longer in his past, yes he was quite sure he was right to think that was-

The thought was gone as he sighed, knowing without a doubt that hadn't been the answer, and now utterly confused what he'd been trying to think of at all.

"What on Earth could you be speaking of?" Sirius cast the most innocent and mischievous gray eyes any person could have. "Surely what you're about to discuss is covered in Slinkards book."

Harry felt that spike of unease return, though he was now convinced he'd mistaken the veiled person for this barman as the person he should be having some vague connection with- but Sirius kept reading, and Harry had no hope of keeping such a flimsy train of thought that only increased the pain always present right behind his eyes when he tried to remember something.

"And?" Remus asked with a little smile.

"Please don't tell me-" Lily began with an honestly amused smile at the three of them.

"We would never try such a thing," James said at once, while Sirius didn't even bother and said, "yeah, but he still turned us down."

Harry felt a frown appearing on his face, as for some reason he didn't like Hermione's use of the phrase 'a couple'.

"I thought Hermione had said Lavender and Parvati didn't think much of your story," Lily said story with pure acid.

Harry shrugged without comment, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer of what had changed their mind.

"So the important people are there then," James smirked at Harry's suddenly red tinged face.

"Whoa, what's Dennis doing there? He's two years below Colin, and he's a year below Harry. That puts him at a second year," Remus counted off.

"The things you remember," Sirius rolled his eyes for this detail being spotted.

"I am positive Fred and George told him how to get into Honeydukes the moment the younger Creevey made the desire of wanting to come," James grinned, "they'd help along anyone who wanted to hear this I'm sure."

Harry paused, cocked his head to the side and seemingly flabbergasted he hadn't burst this question out sooner, "how do the tunnels in and out of Hogwarts work?"

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. "They extend to fit someone, we mentioned that. What's that got to do with this?"

"I just realized," Harry shook his head as he explained, "that when Hermione and I first went in, we had to crouch, but when we were all coming back, no one was and in fact it was a lot bigger." He hated having to bring up that time, of such a moment where their entire life had been flipped upside down, so maybe it was best he'd waited.

James' eyes flipped to a near ghostly hazel as he clearly recalled the same setting, but he still answered, "it just enlarges to the capacity needed for the occasion. You just needed to get there in a hurry the whole time, it was only that size. You needed three people to fit in side by side, at least two of them adults, it compensated for that. Magic really does have a mind of its own." He finished with a mutter.

Harry swallowed hard, now regretting bringing it up altogether as he still hated to see his dad acting like this because of something from his past, and so let the matter go entirely.*

Harry frowned, as something of those four together really struck a nerve in him, but surely he was being ridiculous and Ginny just hadn't wanted to come in with her big brothers so had chosen a random group of students or some such to sit with...

"I would just like to take a moment to applaud all of them showing up at once like that," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"That many people are never that punctual," Remus agreed, "I imagine the houses all came together and waited outside in hopes others would show, and the congregation grew on the outside until they realized no one else was coming, then most likely the twins told them all to get a move on inside."

"You lot think way too much about things," Lily giggled.

"I think I counted twenty five total," Sirius said cheerfully, "that falls under a couple."

"A couple is two!" Harry protested.

"Maybe even Ron and Hermione didn't know," James said with faint amusement, "and word spread a bit."

"That didn't make me feel better," he protested, but was ignored by Sirius continuing.

"You cheated," Remus accused at once, "you skipped down and read that number, not kept a count."

Sirius kept reading as if he hadn't heard that too.

"'S hardly very good customer management," James chuckled at this display.

"I really can't imagine what his problem is," Lily agreed a bit more curiously, though they were likely to never get the answer other than a grumpy old man.

"Honestly, public speaking is an actual form of torture," Remus agreed, "just what did Hermione get you into?"

"That's not an encouraging start to something that shouldn't particularly be going on," Lily murmured with discomfort, as a scorned girl could cause problems, but Harry had never done anything to this one, so she had no clue where this was coming from enough to be worried about it.

Sirius snickered a bit as he read that, it was very true insulting others had a way of bolstering one's self.

The four of them had rather amused smiles on their faces. It was rare indeed to find individuals who had not inherited the panicky trait of not being able to hear the Voldemort's name as if a curse had not been set upon them, but they'd certainly never tried it on a full group before, and the range of reactions amused the mind.

"Does he want a film of the event?" Lily snapped.

"I'd be happy to let him play the role of Malfoy already," James grumbled in agreement of this little comment that was unneeded in their opinion, why be there if you didn't believe it?

"He started it with that tone," Sirius snapped.

Lily frowned as that last name struck a chord as Alice's maiden name, wondering if this was some relative of hers that had lived past her friends life. Such little things like a name kept managing to strike her the hardest.

"And what right is that?" Remus demanded. "Dumbledore's given the account, if that isn't good enough for him I hope the door hits him on the way out."

Lily groaned miserably that's all her son ever seemed to be, a spectacle. Still, she tried to at least remember that wasn't all of them, perhaps just the unnamed children Harry had never met properly, he must have more people on his side like Neville.

"An impressive skill," Sirius muttered absently while he flipped the page.

"And there it is!" James sneered. "The details, because everyone wants to know what the body looks like until they get a peek."

The haunted look on his and all of their faces convinced Harry without a word he would not be asking for details of them anymore than he'd wanted to be asked that day in the Hog's Head.

Sirius winced in disgust having to say that, but gazed sadly at Harry as he disagreed, "I don't believe that, and neither do you. She was just trying to help."

Harry merely rubbed at his scar in answer, his lip trembling with words he could not speak. It became clearer every day he had refreshed of this school year, every minute he learned something more of his fifth year, and yet with every flip of the page he knew more with every word he did not want the answer to what problem revolved around his scar, that had him thinking such things about his friends on such a regular basis.

"Harry," Lily cracked an honest grin finally now that the immediate tension began to dissipate. "That's the normal term for what animal your patronus takes."

"I associated the word with the first person who I heard say it," he shrugged without much defense.

They all shared a surprised look at that though, before Remus began humming 'It's a Small World After All'. Sirius ignored him, mostly because he didn't recognize the tune.

"How could he not know that?" James snorted. "He commentates on the Quidditch matches, he'd have seen it clear as Remus that day."

"Professor Lupin never said he saw the animal," Harry thought back, "just complimented what it did. Maybe it really hadn't taken shape yet and was just large and powerful. I don't really think it took the stag until, err, later."

That caught all of their attention, wondering why Harry kept noticing such a thing, but Harry himself hardly paid it much mind this time, now thinking back on memories he'd rather forget again.

"You're missing out on the best face then," Sirius pouted he couldn't have a few more fun pokes at Harry for his crush, who was now just as determinedly not looking at his godfather.

"Close enough," Remus chuckled.

Sirius cracked an evil grin and at once turned to say something else to Harry, who hissed back, "I'll make you do a somersault if you don't keep going."

"You're getting more violent by the day," Sirius approved as he did indeed turned away, though hardly looking very concerned at the threat.

"I'm sure you can throw in a few hints of how hard pressed it was doing those things while telling them it wasn't a big deal," Remus chuckled.

"But that's exactly what you're doing," James snorted.

Harry shrugged and still muttered how true it was none of that had been all on him. He was in turn ignored by the others, who were never not impressed Harry had reached his current age.

"I had nothing to do with that," Sirius batted his eyes innocently, and Harry wasn't so against him he didn't chuckle as always.

"Thank you Ron," Lily nodded, some people needed a good tongue sticking charm now and again.

"That's not remotely what he said," Remus frowned.

Sirius gave a fantastic snort while James nodded, clearly liking to the idea at once if only in his imagination.

"No, no," Remus pouted, "some things need to be lingered on."

"This isn't one of them," Lily couldn't stop a chuckle as she tried to convince Sirius of this.

"That's a terrible idea," Sirius gave a wolfish grin.

"He's leaving himself open to attack from the other," James mimicked the look.

"Priorities."

No one could tell how much sarcasm James was saying that with, or if indeed there was any to be held.

"He has been rather quiet from what I remember of his nature," Remus randomly agreed.

"It really is a moment where you stop and evaluate how stupid the mind can get," Sirius agreed.

"Now this I want to hear," James smiled openly, though there was a small hint of something else in there Harry couldn't identify.

"Now those I've heard of," Remus said before Sirius could ask. "Old Scottish legend if I remember correctly, though it was never proved as more than that."

"Apparently, Luna thinks otherwise," Sirius shook his head with an indulgent smile, Harry unsurprised but still confused he had that same small tick to his mouth his father had.

"She really can't be so naive to think we've discovered everything there is to be?" Lily sighed for Hermione starting this fight.

James let out an impressed whistle for Luna giving such a sharp return, maybe he had her pegged wrong as just some girl with fantasy ideas. She clearly had a spunk to her.

"This seems to be a full blown Weasley trait of good imitations," Sirius grinned at this even small resemblance to his own acts.

"You didn't discuss this before you showed up with the idea?" James chuckled.

"Have you heard us do any such thing?" Harry shrugged, his mind currently vexed on the issue, though he had a funny feeling he'd like the end results of this.

Sirius offered, "Why not the Chamber of Secrets?"

"Um, the little problem that there's a basilisk corpse down there," Harry told him like the thought was obvious.

"I don't know," Sirius shrugged, " I think it kind of sets the mood."

"Plus," Remus agreed, "only you can open it, what with the Parselmouth door and all."

Harry shook his head furiously and said, "How would we get back up that giant slide? Plus, can't the eyes still kill you? Should we really be playing with that?"

"You're turning into your mother," Sirius told him, "and being a killjoy."

"Hey!" Lily and Harry both snapped, both giving Sirius the stank eye for his innocent joke.

James personally didn't want to think about Harry back down there again for any reason, he'd already had a few vivid nightmares about that place, and so instead offered, "they might be able to use the Shrieking Shack."

"Not sure if that's big enough," Remus disagreed, "certainly not for the lot of them at once."

The boys remained stumped, and rather miffed they were coming up short with this idea.

Sirius begrudgingly turned back to the pages, though he knew whichever student offered up something they hadn't thought of would still irk him.

Sirius chuckled out the answer before anyone could respond.

"Not secure enough," Remus dissed, "Umbridge could walk right in on that, which means you'd need a guard and all sorts of get away plans, that's pretty elaborate and I'm not sure how long term it would work for such a huge group."

"You've half your goal accomplished at least," Lily praised.

Harry felt an odd smile light his face for some reason, though he had no clue as this seemed innocent enough and surely Hermione was still just nervous with so many people looking at her.

"It's a test, clever girl," Remus chuckled, "I'd be sure not to pass along when the next meeting is to anyone who doesn't sign it."-

"If that's really what he was anxious about that I'm a little insulted for Hermione," Lily rolled her eyes. "She was the one who just said to keep this business quiet."

"Least it got the loudmouth to agree," James smiled, "between him and the twins, that should convince the lot of them there's no harm in agreeing to this."

Harry felt a slight giggle escape him he had no name for, though he was confident it wasn't too far off the mark.

"Well that was just rude," Sirius pouted, his smile widening when he saw Harry looked a bit disappointed as well that more people hadn't stuck around to talk to him. "Her friend clearly isn't a fan of you, why bring along that one?"

"Same reason you brought me along that time you asked out Christine Palish. You didn't actually want her to say yes, you just wanted me there as backup in case she said no," Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius just nodded in agreement, he still regretted taking his fellow Quidditch player up on that dare of asking out the girl with the then seventh year boyfriend, but Moony was always good backup, and the end results of the escapade had been worth it.

"It was good of her to give him a chance," Lily said grudgingly.

"But this proved to me he's not worth keeping in this group, he's too unpredictable," James agreed suspiciously.

Harry jolted so hard he looked like someone had literally yanked on his leg as he snapped, "she what?"

All of them couldn't help chuckling at such a vivid reaction, though Harry still looked more annoyed like they imagined Ron would be at having this news dumped on them. Harry had been fidgeting with his hands so much of late, none of them noticed the little twist he gave to the gold ring on his finger.

"Please tell me Hermione timed it like that," Remus muttered to himself, causing Sirius to snicker harder as he kept going.

"I do adore how casual she is about all this," Lily's shoulders were still shaking.

"Poor Ron, and Harry," James kept smiling as well at the peeved look on his son's face that hadn't lessened much as the news sank in. James was once again grateful he nor any of his friends had younger sisters. One little brother amongst them had caused enough drama in their group.

"I would not answer that," Remus said at once.

Sirius rolled his eyes at this display even if he kept laughing more loudly with every line that Harry's pout kept increasing. Harry had known he had a bad feeling about him, yet it hadn't been very dominant at the time, what had changed?

"Did he expect her to live on that crush forever?" James asked with honest interest.

"I'm starting to wonder if he was even hoping for it," Remus grinned, "least Ron knows Harry, may not be such a big deal to him."

"Nah, Ron knew Harry would never reciprocate so his baby sister would always be far away from any romance," Sirius snorted.

Harry forced himself to remain quiet and out of this conversation, now playing with his ring more than ever as something pressed heavily on his mind for this topic. Lily noticed him doing this, but she thought it was merely the idea of his wife's commentary on this and still realized she had not an actual clue of who the girl could be.

The lot of them giggled at that, thinking that's what had kept him so off this topic now, but Harry was surprised such a thing hadn't crossed his mind since Hermione had brought this up, so Harry was left more confused than ever what was going on.

"It took you quite some time to realize this," James chuckled.

"Well I'm sorry if those kinds of details don't keep my attention," Harry managed an eye roll and a friendly smile, though for some reason he'd noted every time Ginny had spoken to him while revisiting these memories...

"Oh yes, he's calm as a hippogriff on fire," Sirius snorted.

"Oh I'm sure you weren't that bad," Remus tried for sympathy, failing as spectacularly as Sirius' disbelieving snort. If Harry was anything like he was in here, that had been a lost cause on the kids part.

Sirius was still chuckling happily as he passed Harry the book.

HPHPHPHPHP

I have discovered two things about kittens. They think a person typing means it's playtime and you have to get creative while they bat at your fingers, and they like to sleep on the crook of your neck, just as distracting but so infinitely cute.

* I've actually been sitting on this one for ages, and yeah I really did want to bring it up in that moment in three, but it just never felt right considering everything else that was going on. So I tacked it in here rather awkwardly instead, better to have a random pop up question than ruin tension, so here it will sit.

  
  



	17. EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY-FOUR

 

Thank you, thank you all for your constant love, reviews, and support of this! I always thank those with an account, but I still can't say thank you enough to guest reviewers who are just as consistent and loving!

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry felt as if it had been ages that he'd taken the book so lightheartedly. His godfather still weighed heavily on his mind, he could not erase the fear that their last argument wasn't going to be the end of things and Harry still worried deeply for the end results of that, but finally something was going right in school! He couldn't wait to learn what all became of that!

Sirius chuckled as he told Harry, "you manage to say that with such perfect exasperation."

"It never fails to boggle the mind," Harry grinned.

"Well compared to her third year, I imagine even seventh won't feel as bad as taking all the classes at once," Lily shrugged.

"Is that all you needed?" James grinned in relief his son was finally starting to sound and clearly feel more normal again. "Didn't the Order help with that."

"I wasn't actually doing anything of use on that front," Harry shrugged, "knowing someone's out there helping and my actually helping are two very different things for me."

No one argued that point, they all felt the same.

"Which bit was your favorite part again?" Sirius smirked, to which Harry ignored him.

"I still want to see someone hung for that, it truly sounds like yet more torture for you this year," Remus said in disgust.

"They're still hanging those up! I thought Hermione would have a cow on them if she saw?" Lily yelped in concern for the twins health.

"This one wasn't nearly so big or as flamboyant," Harry shrugged, "she may not have even noticed it a second time." It was truly depressing that the second Harry had locked in on this new thing, his face had gone right back to that unhappy, sour look he'd carried through most of this book.

Harry looked up, surprised no one had interrupted him during that to state their disgust, and found four stunned stupid faces. James even had his mouth hanging open in shock.

"That is the most ridiculous thing, I have ever heard, in my life," Remus struggled to even get this out.

"Are you kidding me!" Lily screeched in outrage. "You must be absolutely joking. Of all the stupid, I mean she didn't really, no one could have let her-"

"But Quidditch!" James and Sirius broke in with unison disgust.

"Priorities men," Remus scowled at them, "how about, even we couldn't have hung out at school! Group's of three or more, bloody hell, just walking down the corridor is banned in that stupidity of hanging out with more than two friends at the same time."

"Would you lot focus," Lily snapped. "I can't imagine how this was passed, she is literally just putting up laws now that fit her own need, how on earth is this being passed! I am absolutely disgusted anyone could be part of this."

"I think you're all missing the big picture," Harry kept scowling at nothing, "which is, how did she know?"

That did catch them off their own problem, as each ran through the list of all who were in the Hog's Head that day.

"Must have been one of the students, none of the other customers care enough to say anything about this." Remus reasoned out.

"Harry did keep noticing that one shifty person," Lily reminded.

"So there was a shifty prson, they still wouldn't have a reason to go darting to Umbridge," Sirius brushed off.

"So the best idea is that arsehole Zacharia, everyone else there never showed any problem with this," James decided.

"That friend of Cho's," Lily said uneasily.

Harry's stomach twisted in pain even as his eyes lit on her for some understanding he got from that, but then Sirius dismissed at once, "loyalty to her friend would keep her mouth shut I'm sure, Zacharia didn't have that with Ernie or that other chick," and Harry was no longer sure what he'd been thinking of.

"Great, now that that's decided, I can't wait to hear what the twins do about this," Remus sneered.

"But Quidditch!" James was not going to let that point go. "That mean's Harry's team has to be reinstated by that toad! I can't go a whole nother year without hearing about him in the Championship!"

Lily smacked him upside the head while Harry kept going with much less enthusiasm now. He'd had all of one page to enjoy himself and that had already been taken away.

"Youthful innocence," Remus sighed.

"Oh Harry they do," Lily promised at once. "I've realized time and again what a beacon of hope you are for your generation, how so many look to you-"

"Usually not in a good way," Harry interrupted with a scowl, clearly refusing any kind of comfort.

James wouldn't give in that easily as he tisked at Harry, "remember what Dumbeldore said last year? If you're striving for universal popularity you're going to be waiting forever. You've hardly ever looked past the bad people are saying of you, try for some optimism a good twenty something people are on your side that you know of, not counting the ones I'm sure are still in that school."

Harry thought about this for a moment before he really did smile. Somehow, he just knew, before all this was up he'd realize his parents were right and that was enough for now even if he didn't feel it currently.

All of them at least got a small laugh out of Ron's one track mind, but at least he'd said the main suspect first, he wasn't entirely acting like an overprotective brother.

"I can't believe it took you this long to get in this one!" James snorted with glee.

"I found that out during my second year, and it was for a much better reason than vising a friend," Sirius agreed with a wicked grin.

Harry gazed bemusedly at them, realized they weren't going to elaborate, and kept going curiously what the problem with this was.

"No, that mustn't be it!" Remus made his eyes go as wide as possible. "What on earth gave you that idea!"

Harry just rolled his eyes at the sarcasm while still grinning at the mental image Ron had provided.

"That timing," Lily rolled her eyes.

"I'd have been much more impressed if she'd been coming down headfirst," Remus snickered at the thought.

"That is entirely insulting," James pouted.

"What about in the Slytherin common room?" Harry asked in surprise. "They don't even have stairs, how do they stop there?"

"Temporary dirt funnel over you," Sirius grinned. "Any time you try to step pass the barrier, a wall of dirt circles you, though girls around you still come and go, it leaves you pinned like that till you turn around and then it opens again for you to leave."

"Same two things happen for the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws," Remus agreed.

"Why am I the only one insulted by this?" James protested of them.

"Because it's a fairly pointless rule considering most couples don't enjoy spending time in their rooms considering all the, err, shared space, so most find other places to...interact." Remus rolled his eyes at him. "You just get mad because when you tried to fly your broom up there an intruder alert went off and McGonagall showed up and nearly cursed you before realizing what you'd done."

"She never did let that one go, gave him a month of detentions and threatened he'd be in her office for life if he ever set off another alarm like that again," Sirius chuckled.

"Ron just said the same thing before Hermione showed up," Lily rolled her eyes.

"But now of course he realizes he's wrong and he's correcting her as well," Sirius shrugged.

Harry had hardly paused for breath upon realizing this before he startled at the burst of laughter from all sides. He looked around with his own amused smile to see that even his mum was giggling like mad that Hermione had done something so, underhanded, to ensure silence for this group.

"Hermione is a girl of many talents," James calmed down first as he fixed his glasses.

"She really is something when it comes to protecting her own," Lily agreed fondly.

The boys lost it all over again, cackling like idiots, and Harry joined in this time to help relieve some of the tension living in him of how sure he was this was going to be happening at some point.

"I can't imagine why they wouldn't be," Remus shook his head at the idea, his grin still stuck in place for Hermione's curse.

"I never thought anything otherwise," Sirius smirked.

"They knew what they were getting into before this stupid, I don't even want to call it a law it's so sad it's a thing," Lily scowled.

"No it won't," James said in confusion. "People chat with other people from different houses all the time."

"Still not best to have it clear and obvious who's coming up to talk to me right now," Harry shrugged.

Remus was biting his tongue to hold in the sarcastic comment that even the Great Hall was technically now falling under the more than three people in one group rule.

"I already sense true love," Lily giggled as she nestled in a bit to James' pleased smile, both parents missing the stricken look Harry seemed to get for no reason because of that.

"You could still offer her private lessons, those still even fall under-"

Remus smacked Sirius for Harry this time just so Harry could keep going.

"I can't believe you were more concerned over this group you just made up than your Quidditch team!" James was still stuck on that one.

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this," Sirius said uneasily, already imagining that toad excluding the Gryffindor's from playing ever again just because Harry was on the team! Surely Dumbledore wouldn't really let that happen though!

"She can't stop Quidditch," James said flatly. He didn't look quite as dangerous as when he'd heard about that quill being used on his son, but this was a good second. "There'd be a true revolt, even the other houses would go barmy if she stopped one team because it would ruin the whole year's structure."

"Breath you two," Remus tried for comfort even as he shifted uneasily in place at the idea of this. "Prongs said it himself, there's no way this is going to last, I'm sure."

"Lest someone is," Harry sighed, he couldn't get rid of this pit of nausea telling him he should have enjoyed Quidditch while he still had it.

"Is that all it took, for her to start crying to get you to stop," Lily at least grinned for that.

"Could she even get rid of him?" Remus asked, clearly looking to think on something else before his friends blew a gasket over their topic. "I feel like even if she did fire him he wouldn't even take notice and he'd just keep showing up."

"I actually agree," Lily nodded. "You'd have to designate a new classroom and put a teacher in there, and then Binns would just show up and keep talking to an empty room."

"The worst part is, Umbridge would probably consider him a good teacher if she dosen't fall asleep in the back like everyone else," Remus sighed.

None of the boys laughed like the two had been hoping.

"What on Earth?" James began in confusion, that had finally caught everyone's attention onto one subject, and it wasn't History of Magic.

"What's Hedwig up to?" Sirius tried to lean over in concern to look at the book. "Either she could have dropped off her reply with breakfast or she should have waited till you were alone."

Harry had no answer, all he knew was the powerful burning protection rising in him as he gazed at his owl and hurried quickly on.

"Someone attacked Hedwig!" Harry snarled in outrage.

"Oh the poor dear," Lily crooned in concern, "I can't even imagine what."

"I really can't either," Remus shifted uneasily, remembering clearly who that letter was from...nothing could have happened to Sirius right?!

"There's a miracle in itself," Sirius said as he jittered uneasily.

"Bird bones aren't exactly easy to break, despite being hollow," Remus began prattling off as he pictured it in his mind's eye. "It must have taken some very great effort to bend it out of shape, I can imagine Hedwig fought back-"

"Remus," Harry all but begged, shutting him up instantly as Harry kept hastily going.

"Honestly Harry, you could have just walked out and he wouldn't have noticed," Lily told him with a straight face, she knew she would have if her pet had shown up injured.

No one could even crack a smile for this display.

"First time in my life someone called me wrong, and I can't even enjoy the moment," Harry muttered sourly, his eyes flickering to his father's owl and away with longeing, he wanted to know right now his owl was okay, he couldn't get rid of this terrible premonition something could be very wrong with her.

"That's so sad," Lily groaned as she twisted up some of her hair with worry, "but I'm positive Grubbly-Plank will help her, she's been nothing but decent so far."

That made Sirius question for the first time where the woman was even staying. It's not as if Hogwarts had an abundance of guest rooms set up, though he supposed one would obviously be provided for her, and entirely not the point right now.

"Must love her faith in you," James continued shifting in unease as they all watched Harry read with panic over his poor pet. They were sure she was fine, it more than likely wasn't a critical injury, but it put them all on the edge something like this had happened so randomly.

"That's not helping," Sirius said through gritted teeth.

Remus nodded absently, he'd worked all that out silently himself, and had been hoping for some other answer while Harry absently noted his question of those winged horses had just been answered and he hadn't even realized it.

"Oh the irony," Sirius couldn't help but mutter.

"She's never been slow on the uptake," James began fidgeting all the more, now fingers crossed she'd pull Harry aside so the two could go check on Sirius. What on earth had happened here?

Harry shifted guiltily, wishing he could have done more for his owl or at least stayed with her. Remus and James tried to draw comfort from the fact that Harry was more worried for Hedwig than Sirius, surely if he thought something had gone wrong with his godfather he'd be even more upset.

"The worst part is we already guessed as much," Lily said with grim disgust.

"Not even to wherever the bloody hell Sirius was hiding before, but now at the safest place on earth," Harry snarled in disgust, still shifting restlessly and knowing he was going to feel off until he knew his owl was back to one hundred percent.

"Can't imagine what else it would mean," James said drily to cover up his heart thudding harder every second. If Sirius didn't make an appearance tonight, than he'd know something was wrong. Surely though it was just Hedwig's response being intercepted, and not the fact that someone had attacked her and Sirius while he'd been putting the letter on the owl. Harry would have been told if something like that had happened, right?

"That bit is impossible at least," Sirius said with conviction, "no one else was around for last time, I'm sure it'll be fine."

They all paled as they realized that, but Lily jostled herself back into thinking right. "That falls under Dumbledore's job to keep that monitored for the school on behalf of the Ministry..." but she trailed off right there, as even before this latest stupid decree it had been made clear Dumbledore's powers were quickly being stirpped away. What if someone in the Ministry had noted when this had happened? Could it be possible they'd somehow traced it back to Grimmauld place? The amount of magical protection around that house should have made this impossible...but something had happened to Hedwig, and none of them could stop their stream of worries until they got an answer.

"There must be some other forms of communication," Harry said through gritted teeth, something even more fearful rearing up inside of him at just the hint of the idea he couldn't get into contact with Sirius because of this, and something was going to go terribly wrong because of it.

Sirius and James exchanged a significant look before James said, "well yes there is, but usually those are private and preset up things that you and Sirius just haven't established yet."

Harry looked on at him in confusion, waiting for that to be explained more, and Sirius did just that. "A few items can be enchanted so that you can have conversations one on one, but like Prongs just said, you have to individually set them up and you and I haven't yet."

Harry still felt like they weren't saying something, but pressed on anyways as he just wanted this nasty feeling to go away. He tried to even remember that happy feeling he'd felt only at the beginning of this chapter, and already that felt like a foreign concept.

"I was under the impression that was always how he talked," Remus sneered, more than tired of hearing of this little prat near constantly.

"Nothing should ever be a question of influence inside that rat hole!" Lily snapped in disgust.

"I wish they would," Siris said nastily, "then half the Ministry would quit in protest and the other half would quit because the place couldn't even run anymore, then Fudge would be forced out of office and we could put someone with a brain in place."

"That was extremely elaborate," Harry told him conversationally.

"That's Sirius," James agreed.

"Considering that room isn't housing the whole of your family, I don't consider them that reliable," James sneered.

"Uh oh," Lily sat straight up in concern.

"I hadn't realized Neville was around," James winced in concern.

"This could be..." Sirius strailed off as he couldn't decide how this was going to be. Neville would get a few good licks in, more from shock on Malfoy's part than anything, but now everyone in the area would question why this had affected Neville so bad, clearly something the boy was against as he'd never brought it up himself.

All five of them remained grim faced, the boys for once not even cheering this fight on. Neville deserved whatever he was going to do to Malfoy for that crack, but glory the motivation for it was the most terrible thing any of them could put into words.

"Not if you'd backed him up rather than stopping him," Remus said under his breath.

"As you always say Moony, time and place," Sirius gave him the absent reminder, wishing he could go start his own fight with the twisted beings passing as people walking around with the intent to do this to their friends.

They were all still shifting uneasily in here for that distressing moment, each wishing they could do something, say anything to make that even remotely better, but words weren't enough.

James mouth opened with a little pop, before he exaggeratedly clutched at his throat and began pantomiming distress.

"Honestly, I'm with Prongs," Sirius nodded along while Lily watched him with mild concern for the show. "I've never been more distressed who I want to see come on top on this one."

"Why can't I have normal friends who just say something like that, instead of you two idiots?" Remus gave a small smile as Sirius had switched to raising both hands and clearly weighing both sides, and James had only slightly calmed down by now making exaggerated faces every few seconds.

"Oh hush Remus, you know full well you want to go get the camera right now," Lily said with mild indulgence at the display.

"Well I can't tell them that, then they'd think I approve or something," he smirked.

"I knew that conviction of not letting Snape get the better of you wouldn't last long," Sirius sighed.

"You're going to blow that potion up in your face if you don't pay more attention," Lily couldn't help but scold him.

"I'm confident they'd want everything removed from the syllabus that doesn't involve brain washing," Remus snarked.

"Oh how I long for the days of Slughorn, who'd have thought," Sirius grumbled in disgust.

"I will pay that man whatever it takes to never go into retirment and keep this from happening," James vowed.

Harry was frowning lightly to himself, wondering at that time frame, though surely it couldn't be anything too significant...

Lily shook her head, now completely giving up on the idea Harry's potion was going anywhere this lesson.

"You know at some point, I almost wish he would be," Sirius groaned. "Then he'd be gone after that year."

Harry gave an odd little laugh of agreement he was sure shouldn't feel as significant as it did.

Remus snorted in surprise, and then at once was affronted he'd done any such thing, and covered his face with shame.

"There, there, Moony, we all lapse in sanity sometimes," Sirius grinned as he patted his shoulder with comfort.

"Now what was this about me being dramatic again?" James smirked. "I would never deny when anyone made a good comeback."

"Shut up Prongs," Remus huffed as he scowled at him instead.

"It is actually hurting my soul to be enjoying this so much," Sirius was watching the book with an intense feeling even he couldn't quite read. It wasn't quite pleasure, but far more understanding than he'd ever given Snape in his life.

"He's afraid to let him into a classroom with daylight, he might melt," James smirked.

"Wrong myth dear," Lily muttered without explanation to his confused look. She was sitting far back in her seat with her arms crossed. She still couldn't quite bring herself to the level of mocking him like the boys were doing, but for once in their life, they all seemed to be of the same mind when it came to Snape right now.

"Merlin's pants, you congratulate the man for one second on doing something right and he turns around and does even more bull loaded nonsense!" Sirius groaned in disgust.

"Snape reached his limit of my liking for him and then shattered it all in the same stretch, I'd be impressed if I wasn't pissed," James huffed in agreement.

"I found it cathartic to try breaking something, like his nose," Remus said so only Sirius could hear, causing him to at least giggle a bit, but the two kept that one to themselves.

"I really can't see how it makes too much of a difference honestly," Lily said grudgingly. "That's a waste of a class, you're prioritizing."

"There are many reasons I fell in love with you dear," James grinned at her, "this is one of them."

Lily just grinned as she waved on her surprised son.

"He was doodling during that class, I hardly think he missed out on something riveting," Sirius snorted.

"Hermione is a terrible conscience if she can't even tell you how to sort your day out," Remus sighed.

"I know Monday's are terrible, but this is getting ridiculous for all parties," James said in confusion.

"Ouch," Remus winced, all of them at once understanding what must have happened.

"Is it of some comfort she wasn't outright fired?" Lily sighed, none of them particularly liked her, but that didn't mean they wanted her under Umbridge's thumb either, which seemed to be what had happened.

"Not much," James groaned.

"As if she doesn't contradict herself enough with her predictions, now she's doing it in real time," Sirius tried for his old mocking tone, but even he didn't hate Trelawney enough to poke fun at this.

"If she really can't piece that together logically than she could at least consult a crystal ball," Lily muttered without any real heat.

"Of all the teachers to go on probation, she wasn't exactly number one on my list," Remus sighed.

"Even she didn't deserve this," Harry grudgingly agreed past all his annoyance at her.

"That was insulting Harry, a fact does not give two people anything in common," Lily said flatly.

"I'd be worried for the mental health if they had by this point," Sirius snapped.

"No need to think, more like," Remus sneered in disgust.

"You already have though Harry," James sighed. "That first day you asked to go to tryouts told her all she needed to know about the best way to get to you."

Harry looked horror struck he could be the reason his team didn't get set back up, so Lily quickly soothed, "oh I'm sure you're all exaggerating this, Quidditch is a set Hogwarts tradition, even Umbridge can't be stupid enough to think she can go on without letting the team play forever, someone will step in." Even she didn't look very convinced by the end, that woman had already gotten away with far too much.

"That's not the bright side I was looking for," Lily groaned, even she wouldn't put that in the good colum.

At least the Marauder's looked entertained at this display, while Lily found the whole thing rather sad this was getting such a show. Could watching someone vomit really be so entertaining?

"No real use!" Sirius looked stricken.

"This is the most valuable thing I've ever seen invented, far more useful than a dozen spells I could name that have only one purpose! This is a multipurpose gift!" James agreed.

"Would you lot calm down," Lily rolled her eyes at them. "So they make you vomit, Sirius' socks can do that."

"Not stop on command though," Remus reminded, "think about it Lily, this could even have some real world applications for spies, slipping this into someone's food and they couldn't stop unless you promised them the antidote."

Lily pursed her lips even as her mind did begin spinning past the trouble it caused. Satisfied that everyone at least appreciated these things on some level, Harry did keep going with a small smile in place now.

"And there's that," Remus agreed absently.

James and Remus finally felt themselves relax since the news of Hedwig's arrival. They wouldn't even admit to themselves how worried they'd been for him about the attack on Harry's owl during this delivery, but clearly he was just fine and it had been some other thing to happen to Hedwig completely unrelated to Harry's godfather.

Lily giggled happily at the idea, eyeing her cat whose tail was just being spotted hanging from the staircase banister.

James felt the same grin appear on his face and he wasn't even beside his mate, it was just natural even when he wasn't in on the joke, though he did wonder what Sirius knew and was eager to hear.

Harry stared in stunned disbelief at the words before turning wide eyed to his godfather, who at once put his own baffled hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me, even I'm not that good."

"And it takes a lot for him to admit to that," Remus said off hand even as they kept watching the book for this explanation. Maybe Padfoot had showed up after all but not even been seen by Harry just to prove a point, that seemed the kind of thing their friend would likely do.

"At least some things about you never change," Remus grinned.

"And I'm sure he'd be happy to teach you," Lily shook her head for him.

Harry's mouth flopped open, outraged that he was still being followed, before he glanced up and saw all of them not trying very hard to stifle giggling at the thought of Mundungus dressing up like this. James pushed the idea further by getting out around a shaking voice, "wonder if that was Sirius' idea for the disguise, and Dung was too afraid to say anything otherwise?"

Harry did crack a grin for that at least, though it didn't at all make him feel better as he still hadn't been told about this, this time not even by Sirius.

That did make the others realize as well Sirius had been fully aware of this and had not passed this information on, but James defended his mate on this one. "Firstly Harry, when exactly was he supposed to tell you this? Maybe Sirius didn't even know you still were until Mundungus showed back up to say what you'd done." His face soured for his own explanation though, as Sirius should get first say in what happened around Harry.

"Besides that, maybe Sirius just assumed you still knew. Followed outside of school, why not while in it too," Remus rolled his eyes at the absurdity of this even while he explained it.

Harry just sighed but decided against butting heads with Sirius over this when it more than likely still wasn't his decision.

"I swear you are the worst influence on his life," Lily didn't even bother trying for a stern tone as she grinned at him. "Can't you at least pretend to scold him before congratulating this idea."

"I'm not even going to bother to apologize," Sirius kept snickering.

Harry had felt some growing unease since he'd read Sirius' letter, so he tried to ignore why for a moment and asked, "what's the story there?"

"Sadly we've only ever heard some garbage from the man himself," Remus sighed.

"We tried to get him to meet us there for an Order meeting one day and he wouldn't go," James pouted, "only said he hadn't been there in ages. When we asked the barman, he told us when he'd been banned but wouldn't say more."

"Maybe he showed up without covering his face and ruined the motif," Lily rolled her eyes at all of their disappointment at not learning something.

"Considering how off that barman is, my best guess is it was something personal though," Sirius grumbled, wishing he did know what had happened.

"I still think this Dung in a dress thing warrants far more commentary," James chuckled.

"Keep it to your own head then," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"I am to," James face at once tightened in concern of what that woman had to say about this.

"Merlin's pants, she sounds like Umbridge!" Remus protested in disgust.

"That's a bit extreme," Lily frowned at him. "She doesn't want to hear of Ron in trouble."

"Why didn't I ask the other three Weasley's to be in attendance for them to hear about this as well?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

"How exactly would you have secretly phrased that?" Harry chuckled, "I'm sure Ron'll just pass it along to them, for all the good it'll do."

"Would love to have been there for that bit," James huffed, wondering what Sirius had said to remind Molly that's all she could say on the subject.

That gave them all a moment of interest. This guard duty got more interesting the more they heard about it, though it was still infuriating just hints kept being dropped about it instead of actually being told what it was, especially by Sirius himself.

"Honesty I'm a bit impressed you did," Lily snorted.

"As if," they all scoffed at once that's the conclusion anyone could draw. Sirius saying something like that would be akin to him declaring undying love for Snape.

"There's my Padfoot," James chuckled.

"Not a chance on the Map," James' grin turned wolfish, Sirius at once agreeing while Remus looked a touch offended. He could understand why Sirius wouldn't have said the whole of the Marauders, that would hurt his heart to much to possibly ever say again, but he'd have liked to at least been acknowledged as well during that. Clearly even his name being passed along by Sirius was too much to ask for anymore, and this somehow continued to get more depressing the less he was mentioned.

"I notice you've yet to ask us how we'll be learning?" Harry smiled at him. "I'd have liked to know what you thought of me teaching the lot of them."

"I'm sure pride, amusement, and a list of other good things," Sirius smiled fondly at Harry who couldn't help but beam.

"I'd thought she'd sorted out her priorites by now?" Remus sighed.

"Then you'll have less homework and more time to practice," Sirius snorted at her oddly.

"This was her idea, why's she suddenly the one bringing this up," James rolled his eyes agreement.

"Why do you seem to be the only person thinking like that," Remus agreed with an unfocused gaze, Sirius turned to look curiously at him for the tone and not understanding the put out look still on his face.

"You'd think you'd realize same as Remus did, that's not big enough for almost thirty of them," Lily looked at him in confusion.

"I might not know how many of them there were," Sirius shrugged, "if it had been ten or less it may have worked better."

"I don't see why that's her problem," James said in confusion. "Sure the cloak helps to sneak onto the grounds, but so long as they don't do it after school hours while taking turns sneaking down there, that wasn't really the issue."

"That one could have been big enough," Sirius pouted, "if it hadn't caved in."

"I'm really coming up with nothing short of a classroom, which is ridiculous when you consider how big that school is but nothing outside of the classrooms hold that many people," James ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Harry's voice spiked in concern at once, James nearly startling out of his seat at such an abrupt change, and Remus leaning in protectively close to Sirius as he watched the book dangerously for what that face could mean. Sirius was at Grimmauld, and Harry was at school, surely nothing could be happening at either end or they would have realized it before now...

James couldn't help jumping out of his seat then, his face stark white with concern as he fought back the impulse to snatch the book away from Harry's stuttering, fear filled voice.

Lily began swearing violently as her mind raced to realize what, how this had happened!

"No, no, no!" Harry shouted in outrage. "How could she! There's no way she could have known you were there, how could she even manage to do that to you! What did she almost do?"

"Pulled him right out of his fireplace into her's," Lily answered through numb lips.

Sirius didn't realize that pressure was Remus' hand curled so tight on his arm, prepared to wrench him out of the way of something any second, until he tried to move towards Harry and reassure him everything was alright, he'd escaped. He looked back at Remus steadily, who had to concentrate to unfurl his hand, before Sirius promised Harry and everyone, "relax, I bolted, she didn't grab me or you'd have realized it. You've never done this before, but you can still sense what's going on at your end as well as the place you're visiting, but you can also still feel the floo network working around you. I'd have sensed someone else trying to jump in and I bolted, there's no way she could tell where, everything's fine."

No one looked remotely reassured. Too much adrenaline still pumping in them, too close a shave that Sirius was once again trying to blow off. He hardly even looked ruffled, if his eyes were a little wider than usual than that was more mild surprise than anything someone had gotten so close to him.

James was still shaking and too white from fear as he kept a steady eye on his brother, that had been the most fear inducing moment yet and it had happened while he'd been chatting with Harry! What was wrong with this world Sirius couldn't have one actual conversation with his son lately without something happening to someone!?

  
  



	18. DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY

 

Remus struggled for a moment to make himself reach for the book, to keep going in a perfectly normal tone after their worst fear had nearly been realized and Sirius' fate hat been silenced in this future. The worst part was Sirius looking at him expectantly, like he was waiting for Moony to start prattling on about bowtruckles again. He couldn't do it, the words burst out of him like fire, "Sirius, would you please at least look at this like you would a mission for the Order, and stop treating your personal safety like an extra quill."

Sirius puffed up his cheeks, but still refused to look around at all the concerned faces as he stated, "and what, worry my tail off like the lot of you? Exactly what good would that do? I'll be fine, that toad doesn't scare me, and I'm not ever going to give up talking to Harry out of fear!" He finished with a hard look at Remus.

Remus looked like he'd been slapped and quickly turned away, while James scrutinized the two, trying to understand why Sirius thought that was the reason for Remus' silence since he'd left school...and then not being able to think of an idea against it.

Harry hadn't even registered the exchange, his mind was a pain filled buzz as the memory he'd just been given felt like the worst omen yet. Something about Sirius, and the fireplace, Umbridge's office-

"Now get on with it and read Moony, there is just no sense sitting around talking about what ifs." Sirius finished with a hint of an apology in his voice. He'd regretted the words as soon as they'd slipped out, he'd been determined not to have a go at Remus for his future anymore than he wanted to sit around thinking about his own.

The tone had caught Harry by surprise, instantly taking away whatever he'd been thinking to look over at the Marauders and realize he'd missed something, but he didn't get a chance to ask for what as Remus began around a tight throat.

"I'll kill her," Harry said flatly.

James eyed his son with worry. Not that he didn't agree, but he found his son with some pretty bad self esteem issues that it took the maiming of his pet to want her dead, while his being tortured had been played off by him.

Remus did a double take at that, trying to figure out what Harry was doing.

"Magic can make you so lazy," Sirius chuckled, "I'd have much more enjoyed chasing it about the room."

"Always true," Lily agreed.

"Be careful someone's keeping an eye on Flitwick though, he's been known to sneak up on you," James said absently, he still hadn't been able to take his worried eyes off Sirius, and now kept glancing at Remus in concern he was reading so despondent. Clearly what Sirius had said struck him deep, and James was getting worried, he hated watching his friends argue.

Harry scowled shamefully for himself not having put more thought into that at the time, he could have saved his family heart failure if he'd put a little more thought into that moment rather than letting Cho distract him. He felt like a failure, all he'd done was cause them worry since his arrival here.

"That's so foul, and yet it makes a despicable amount of sense," Remus said in disgust.

Remus frowned lightly at the pages, thinking Hermione should quit sharing this kind of information when Harry was holding live creatures. That was twice now he could have done one a serious harm by not paying attention.

Harry saw the look and sheepishly defended, "I may have honestly got the two swapped in that moment."

Sirius at least snorted at the joke.

"I still can't imagine, I mean how would she-" James struggled to put into words all the fear and anger that moment had caused.

"She more than likely doesn't know it's actually me," Sirius reasoned out. "The Floo network would have put together for her Harry was meeting up with someone outside the castle, and she was trying to snag them, but I can't imagine how she'd put my name into the equation when everyone still thinks I'm a mass murderer."

All five of them shivered hard for that ever having to be a thing again, not to mention because it would be the first step in the worst outcome.

Lily tried hard not to smile at the subject change, but she'd be happy to sit around all day and hear of Harry's lessons rather than picturing anything happening to Sirius. She already wanted to hug him any time she had to imagine him being in that dark house by himself at all hours, now he was officially cut off from any communication as well. She'd be surprised if he didn't go mad in there and burn the place down by holiday break.

"Why were we using two separate animals anyways?" Harry asked just to keep up the subject change. "They've always had enough of the same animal before."

"Honestly I think he just likes to mix it up for fun now and again, remember the class where we were practicing charming animals to hum, he provided a range of birds so we could hear the different effects. Maybe he did something similar here, though the idea doesn't work as well on silencing two well known animal noises," Remus trailed off as he still seemed puzzled at his own answer, but Harry grinned and seemed satisfied enough to wave him on.

"What exactly did he think was going to happen?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'd be more stunned by this point if she didn't pull it off."

"Yep, there it is," James grinned for that old times feeling.

"I don't even blame it," Lily frowned in sympathy.

"At this rate I'd be more surprised if we weren't given additional homework," Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

Sirius gave him an understanding look, keeping the thought to himself how funny it was Harry was doing extra studying for a class that was offering him the least amount of work this year.

"Why didn't they all just move to another classroom?" Lily frowned, she knew she wouldn't have tolerated that and would have started cursing Peeves the moment he hit her or her friends.

"Because he'd just move with the herd, best to try and show disinterest in his being there and hope he goes away," James shrugged.

"Never worked on you," Lily smirked, causing James to open, then close his mouth without response.

"Oh thank Merlin!" All four boys cheered with relief while Lily rolled her eyes indulgently and hoped this chapter would just skip to that match already, she was already sick of hearing it.

"Best get used to that," James smile didn't dim in the least at the reminder of the weather, "Quidditch holds for no storm."

Sirius winced in remembrance of the last storm Harry played in, and couldn't decide if he was rooting for Snuffles to make another appearance, though at least there wouldn't be dementors this time.

"Not that I'm not intensly flattered I consume so many of her thoughts-"

"Your points sharper the sooner you get to it Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"-but why was that your first thought?" Sirius finished as if he'd never interrupted.

"It was on my mind, I tend to get a little panicky about such things when my godfather was nearly captured less than twenty four hours ago," Harry said so sharply Sirius dropped the joke at once.

"Regarding?" James prompted when Remus trailed off.

"Nope, that's where she stopped," Remus shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know how you can stand her," Sirius grinned in agreement.

"It was her idea?" Lily balked in confusion. "What's she playing at?"

"She certainly wasn't acting like this even after the bill was passed, her precious laws," Remus agreed with a confused scowl for this abrupt change.

Sirius had yet felt more insulted by anyone, but Hermione just kept managing to hit him with the hardest blows lately, and this is one he'd give her a good snap for. He hadn't argued the point when she'd accused him of being insane, he half believed her no matter how terrified it made him. He'd given in to Molly helping him to look after Harry, Merlin knew it would be foolish to turn down anyone willing with all the trouble his godson was clearly going to get up to, but this? Was Hermione really saying if he'd told the lot of them off she'd be even more gungho for the idea? It was of the utmost insulting to his pride that his encouraging Harry along with something now was putting Hermione on the ropes!

Sirius' silent fuming was nothing compared to the other fours outburst of Hermione's line of thinking on this one. She'd said some pretty nasty things about their friend, and she continued to do it without a care for anyone, clearly not Harry. His one vague parent in his life and Hermione was saying they should no longer do something because he'd given the okay for it?

The only good thing Hermione's snide comment had done was fixed the Marauder's problem aside if for a moment. Watching Remus tersely mutter a few things about Hermione gave James and Sirius a nice firm reminder their Moony had yet to ignore Harry or anyone in any sense, and Remus forced himself to keep going after a moment just in hopes Harry might put a dung bomb in her face for the comment.

"First the twins, now Peeves, does someone have it out for Katie?" Lily couldn't help but frown for the poor girl.

"Not carefully enough as she's still saying them," James hissed in disgust.

"He rode off the back of an executed hippogriff thanks to her illegal help, and she's got the nerve to call him reckless!" James spat. "Honestly, sometimes I swear I question Hermione's sanity."

Harry was not going to come to his friends defense on this one, that was a low blow against someone who meant the world to him, he could not see Hermione's point on this in any way.

Lily chewed on her tongue for a moment as she considered her words before ungraciously saying, "She's half right on that at least, certainly got the motive anyways, though I still can't see that last part as his real intention. He's bored, but would never do something to really get Harry into trouble if the cause wasn't worth it."

James frowned heavily at her, but didn't bite her head off as she hadn't exactly said anything explicitly wrong, though it rankled him she wouldn't just be as mad as the rest of them for this.

Sirius made a deep throated noise that might have been a laugh if he wasn't scoffing in disgust.

"Fitting," Sirius murmured, his tone more distant than ever. He didn't agree with Hermione on this one, not one little bit, but if anything he was starting to feel a touch of hope again. If Hermione could be so wildly inaccurate about this, maybe her own mind was exaggerating whatever she'd seen of him over the summer. Still though, could both she and Molly be so wrong? They did seem rather similar, and no one else had paid that comment any mind of his unstable mind, perhaps he'd read too much into it? After all, as had been proven several times now, Hermione didn't know everything.

"Wouldn't she know it was a ruse though?" Sirius asked at once with absolute enthusiasm, he really hated all the sour looks around him all involving him, he was supposed to be the one to keep those looks away and Sirius did not fail at his job. "The twins haven't been subtle about them to the student body, so if they randomly get sick for no reason, I imagine she'd call them out on their bull."

James hesitated, but his mind was now caught on the issue and he couldn't help but respond, "honestly, I'm a bit insulted they're trying at all, come on men, they could be playing their game in this weather, this is keen practice you can't fake."

"The both of you should be hospitalized," Remus grumbled as he flipped the page.

Sirius grinned pompously for thinking exactly like the twins, and was honestly disappointed no one pointed it out for him, so he'd just have to bask in his own glory.

"Nah, still the same idea," Sirius wouldn't let his moment go, "randomly sick, she'll know they're faking it."

"Hey look, I was right about a fever pill," James grinned.

"Place they get their boils?" Lily finished helpfully as all four boys winced. Honestly Lily found it a miracle broom riding persisted at all, for as uncomfortable as it seemed to be riding on sticks of wood with only your legs to support you, it must be ten times more uncomfortable for lads. She'd never ridden on a horse or a motorbike, but she imagined a combination on the two on something even smaller just would not make for a pleasant experience no matter what her husband tried to tell her.

"You're teams already got the advantage for this anyways!" Remus cheered slightly at the thought even if he was still shifting a bit uncomfortably at the twins predicament. "The Slytherin's opted out of that one like the cowards they are, you've already far more practice with this weather."

"Ah karma," James and Sirius grinned.

"Is that really not a common spell anymore?" James seemed mystified these upperclassmen didn't know it, then again as he thought back, he couldn't quite remember who'd taught him that spell either. It may have actually been his dad, and like the cleaning spell, only been passed down from word of mouth so he supposed it was possible none of the others would know this, though now he was curious who would have mentioned it to Hermione. Perhaps Flitwick if Hermione was asking for even more extra work at the beginning of the year?

"Look at you passing on useful wisdom already," Remus grinned. "You'll be a natural at this."

Harry grinned sheepishly even as he did jitter with excitement to get to his first Du- err, Defense meeting. His brain fizzled a bit as he tried to understand for a moment what else he'd been fixing to call it, but the idea was gone the moment he'd thought of it.

"How on earth do the Chasers communicate in that set up?" Lily couldn't stop the intrigue creeping into her voice for this idea.

"A lot of practice in these conditions, learning silent and very subtle signals from each other, having to stay close enough to keep up those communications but also still at a far enough distance you're keeping tabs on the other team's Chasers. I actually set up this routine where every time I slapped at my shoe the partner on my right, you remember Bishop, she'd toss the ball as high as she could and it was always Pessins job to snatch it away as a quick diversion tactic-" James eagerly launched at once into some of his own spins on this.

Lily actually watched with some interest for a moment, as she'd never put much into the game even while dating him during seventh year, but suddenly she realized she'd never really bothered to listen to him either. She admired when he got so intense over the subject, but the actual techniques had always been lost on her as she'd never intended to hear these details.

It took the other three a moment to realize Lily wasn't going to cut James off, for once, and Remus cleared his throat loudly to do it for her as he was delving into an intensely detailed account of the effects of wind per hour on the tailwind that could be created in the right circumstances.* Lily gave herself a little shake and looked back to him in surprise, almost as if she'd forgotten there was an audience, as he continued.

Remus experienced intense pain on a monthly basis, and he was still managing to read that with a wince of horror upon every word for the poor twins circumstances with this.

Lily's teeth sunk into now familiar scars upon her lower lip with nerves, her eyes resting protectively on her boy as he rubbed at his scar with remembered pain, his face screwed tight as he forced himself not to acknowledge what about these had his mind spinning with the most intense emotion he'd ever experienced.

"I'm sure that was as subtle as could be," Sirius shifted anxiously at this happening again. He wished it would stop, it made him clench with such unease he could have his own boils.

James felt his stomach churning in a panic, already his hand itching for his wand in fear of his son ever being back around that monster again, wasn't four traumatic experiences enough? Yet somehow, on the grounds of Hogwarts, would still cap them all.

"Like he was when Crouch got away last year," Remus muttered, his mind racing to try and understand this. "So not a new experience like with Umbridge, in fact I'm now convinced she isn't connected to this. Voldemort was angry at that exact moment as well."

"Isn't there something he could do to block this though!" Lily yelped, fear vibrating so much from her being it had its own tangibility. "Harry has his own anger to be dealing with, he really doesn't need to know when Voldemort's is as well."

Harry looked around hopefully, but the only answer any of the Marauders could have offered was Occlumency, and they weren't even sure if that would solve this problem. This...connection Harry had with Voldemort wasn't like anything they had come across, certainly nothing they understood enough to speculate on to even begin offering a cure, let alone some aid to help in stopping this.

When Lily realized the only answer to her own rhetorical question, she couldn't bring herself to mention it either, why instill false hope for even a second, and so spoke to him with the only thing she could offer, "in anything that happens dear, at least I know you'll get through it."

"You've such confidence," Harry sighed. He wished he could agree with her, and the distance he was forcing himself to have from his memories at the moment to not understand a painful answer was helping him towards believing her, which was the only way he could wave Remus to keep going with any semblance of looking okay.

Their worry for this happening to him remained at its highest level at this news, and yet they were all forcing themselves not to panic as if this were new again. This was just like Harry's dreams from last year, only now he was getting this information without having to be asleep, and it was hurting his scar less, at least he wasn't screaming in pain...yet. Yet with every new development Harry continued to contract from Voldemort's feelings, the harder it got to pretend there even was a solution out there.

Remus wondered if Harry could even start exhibiting these problems in this time now. After all, a Voldemort with a body did exist currently, though he had yet to curse their Harry, so perhaps that would continue to prevent his future counterpart from experiencing this ever? He could only hope, and even if not, they still had time to find some kind of solution. Voldemort had his body back for many months before Harry's problem started exhibiting symptoms this bad.

"Okay, so that one is new," James groaned as their only solace was torn from beneath their feet.

"Was happiness a new one?" Lily at once tried to keep a single wall up. "I think we can count Crouch's escape and subsequent owl saying he was dead as both, don't you, so I think we can still say this is, well not normal, but not new," Lily's voice was breaking at the end with the strain of holding onto her own hope.

"Yes Lily, I'm-I'm sure that's it," Remus forced himself to agree past the lump in his throat, all eyes both trying to avoid Harry and watch him with deep worry all at once. This never got easier to hear about.

"Now is not the time for insults Ronald," Lily said tartly while Sirius forced a laugh he didn't feel.

Harry felt a tingling sensation at the crown of his head. Something about that, regarding Voldemort's mind, he truly should remember- then Remus muttered something under his breath Sirius genuinely laughed at, and Harry was looking to his parents who were sharing a fond smile as they always did whenever those two quietly snarked at each other, and Harry refused to let that pain be his undoing when he had them around him for support.

Sirius could not seem to get the message to his brain, or never bothered trying, that this was a bad idea as he began mocking, "can you imagine if you got his whole range? Peckish, depressed, smug, horn-"

"Padfoot," Remus pleasantly informed him, "not in front of the kid," he happily indicated the infant on the ground, and Sirius clipped his mouth right shut as Remus moved along.

Harry crossed his arms definitely, waiting for someone to tell him he was being an idiot again, but to his surprise no one did.

James wasn't happy about it, but he told Harry, "I wish you'd think about this decision a bit more, this isn't just about you and Dumbledore's problems, Voldemort is a threat to the whole world and any news about him should be kept up to date with the man who's got the best idea on how to stop him, but it's not as if anyone can force you to send this along. You didn't ask for this job of being Voldemort's antenna."

Harry winced anyways, the message had come across clear enough. Harry suddenly did feel petty, and his worry he was constantly trying to bury lately was rearing full force in concern that his stubbornness was going to get someone killed.

"News pertinent to the fate of the world, and our young Harry just shrugs it off," Remus muttered for Sirius alone, who smiled absently in agreement.

"Never thought he'd put homework above stopping the villain of all evil, seems Hermione's got his priorities sorted for him," Sirius whispered back.

They all shifted in unease as Sirius' words came floating back like that.  _ Like a weapon that he didn't have last time... _ but the endless possibilities of what that could be without any kind of information was no more helpful now than it had been when Sirius first passed that information along. Remus still felt like clocking him and himself for not having said the answer already, it was maddening.

"Honestly neither have I," James agreed, "I found the issues going on at our school just a bit more current and pressing, I still trust the Order to be handling whatever my friends are being cryptic about."

"So glad you have," Lily grumbled, "my brain's been going crazy keeping track of everything I want to be keeping track of, and that's currently a very top concern."

James ran his hand lovingly through the fiery hair, and then began playing with it helping her to relax for just a moment.

"All excellent questions," Remus heaved a heavy sigh.

Even being very low on her list of worries, Lily still shot Harry an anxious look, though in understanding. Homework wasn't exactly something helpful to take your mind off your problems.

"Well it's no wonder you weren't making any progress on your Charms homework," Lily suddenly snorted in surprise as Remus reread that to make sure he had it right. "Those are potion ingredients love."

"Maybe that's why Ron was looking at you anxiously," Sirius wasn't trying very hard to fight off a grin, "you were in the wrong book mate, and he was too afraid to correct you."

Harry actually gave them a bemused smile for the odd slip, but it was better than that worry line that had yet to leave his face for any length of time lately.

"Urgh, who'd have thought reading about Voldemort's emotions would still be more interesting than listening to this nonsense," James grumbled.

Lily couldn't help but smile though, finding it fascinating as Harry linked such ingredients together with his real world problems, that truly was a good studying techniques if he'd actually been taking it in.

"You don't have to remind me of how desirable I am Moony," Sirius preened, while Remus flicked him in the nose before loudly moving on.

Harry'd had many moments so far where he'd understood without knowing how the importance of something, and this was by far the worst of all. Something about that door, it would mean something to his future, something terrible, and yet to put this into words, to make that fear tangible and real, would be a pain his mind could not cope with, he understood this better than ever of himself, and that scared him most of all. What happened in there that finally he wasn't willing to look ahead and see?

The worst part was when Harry forced himself back out of his mind and realized his moment had not gone unnoticed. They were all as tense as when his connection to Voldemort had been spoken of, yet they did not understand, how could they? It must simply be a dream with no other meaning, what terrible thing could be causing Harry the pain they'd seen on his face from some simple restless sleep he'd been having for months?

"Dobby's back!" Sirius cheered far too loudly, startling Harry enough he gave a small attempt at a smile for the distraction.

"With Hedwig, oddly enough," Remus agreed fondly as he pictured how this could have come about, though now Harry was all but relieved he finally could have his pet safe again.

Harry was practically wiggling with happiness at this development, not only because he was getting his owl back good as new, but he had a funny feeling Dobby would be of much help this night.

James blinked slowly as the image was painted, before declaring, "I have questions."

"Yeah, why was Dobby the one to return Hedwig?" Remus frowned.

"No," James rolled his eyes at his friends one track mind, "what was that bit about Dobby wearing all the hats?"

Remus reread that bit while Sirius started giggling at the idea. He'd been imagining an overflowing bin full of lost and found items, but this was even better if Dobby had decided to keep them all for himself, and he now wondered if the little elf made a regular habit of this.

Lily grinned happily at the idea, Dobby had always been shown to care for others and it was such a sweet thing to see this continued even while not having a master, it truly did just seem to be his nature.

"Oh dear," Lily frowned in concern, she'd never thought of that.

"I can see it though," James shrugged. "I guess if it did continue to happen and they realized what someone was trying to pull, yeah I can see this."

"Poor Dobby though." Remus had never heard such sympathy for the kind in Sirius' voice as he said that. "Imagine how much work goes into one common room alone."

Remus just hoped Harry told this to Hermione, hopefully making her realize she was in fact doing the opposite of what she'd set out to do and only making one elf work harder.

"Technically her idea was working though," James couldn't help a teasing grin on his face. "Gryffindor tower wasn't being cleaned by a slave, Dobby was being paid."

"Har, har," Lily said dryly.

"There's the bright side," Lily tried for a grin that didn't quite meet her eyes, as her son at once began rubbing in agitation at his scar for the reminder.

"I'd take Dobby over Kreacher any day, was that an offer?" Sirius said with hope, and was ignored.

"I continue to realize just how sleep deprived you were," James went back to laughing at that. "You fell asleep practicing Charms and at some point accidentally switched to an even worse assignment."

Remus managed to read that as if actually throwing burning knives that landed on no one in here. Sometimes Harry managed to forget how scary the lot of them could be until something like this came up.

"What's this you're on?" Sirius asked eagerly at the happy smile curling across Harry's face. If anything could erase that lurking feeling from before it was focusing on his group, and he had a good feeling of where this was going that had more to do with Dobby.

"That's, brilliant!" Remus gaped in shock before turning wide eyed to Harry. "The elves know more about that castle than anyone, if there is such a place than they'd know."

"I wouldn't think they do though," James was pouting a bit, mostly because this idea had not crossed his mind, and he'd be even more sour if the elves really knew something about that school he didn't.

"This elf is ruining my childhood," Sirius declared, though there was nothing but a smile on him for seeing Dobby clearly thought he did have an answer, "knowing something about that castle we don't."

"I don't understand how really," Remus was thinking about this reaction and still thinking of their map in his head and still no area was coming to mind.

Harry wasn't going to let them wallow long, he was waving Remus very eagerly on for the answer to this already, he just knew the Marauders were going to love it.

"That's it!" Harry pumped his fist, looking so giddy he may have rediscovered another Quidditch Cup win. "The Room of Requirement, I know that!"

"But we've never heard of that," James wouldn't let that one go. "Not from anything in the school, the ghosts or paintings..." then he trailed off with a further pout as he suddenly realized who they never had tried to get information from in that school. Stupid really now that he realized his mistake, but none of the Marauders had ever bothered to learn a single house-elf name in their time in school, but what if they had? What if this was purely a house-elf knowledge secret.

Sirius wouldn't let him pout long, now practically screaming in Remus' ear, "well get on with it man! Can you believe this, Harry's now found two things in that school we never have, and I want to get to hearing about it!"

"Hopefully this one does not contain a killer snake," Lily muttered even as she kept watching curiously to find out more as well.

Sirius opened his mouth again but stopped surprisingly quickly at just a warning look from Remus, he wanted to hear this too much.

"Oh my wand!" Sirius yelped in further excitement. "This is magnificent, even Dumbledore doesn't actually know about it, but it was mentioned ages ago! This is brilliant."

"He could have been lying," Remus said with a bemused smile as he remembered the snorted in goulash. "Just didn't pass along to Karkaroff the full story."

"Nah, this must be something people stumble across," James said as he was now thinking back to every passage in the school and trying to think if they could have actually stumbled across it without realizing at one point, and hoped Dobby would tell details of where this place was soon.

"And?" Sirius' eyes were about to fall out of his head with wonder at this new treat being hovered above him. "Priorities man, this is far more important than getting your beauty sleep, which is a last cause on you anyways."

"Thank you Padfoot, my son always wanted to hear you making cracks at him like that," James snorted.

At first, Sirius just smirked, but then it quickly faltered as it clicked in his head, was that what Hermione and Molly were hearing from him at Grimmauld place? Him wanting to make old cracks about James but now about Harry? Sirius had been perfectly clear headed in aiming that jab at his pup, he couldn't resist with their similarities and though he could only imagine how painful it must be for him to be without Prongs in the future, was this really the reason for their worries? If so, than they seemed almost as laughable as James had tried to tell him they were...

"Planning to get through the halls?" Remus demanded of Harry faintly. "Honestly, you've traveled through plenty of times, now you're just getting paranoid and letting Hermione rub off on you."

Lily rubbed at her temple and wished her son had one good male influence who didn't constantly egg him into breaking school rules, but then she realized she'd hardly spoken up herself against the idea and quickly stopped with a faint smile.

"I've never heard such a blasphemous sentence in my life," James said flatly, while Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

Bad mood instantly gone, James snapped his fingers in glee and shouted, "we do know that place!"

"Oh yeah," Sirius nodded to himself, "that was a secret entrance out of the castle for us though. We only used it once, because it was so bloody hard to pin down how to figure out it's switch."

"We stumbled across it one day while um, while we were trying to discuss some easier methods of sneaking out into the Shrieking Shack," Remus offered. He paled, hesitated, but saw no point in not recounting this for Harry no matter how badly it hurt his soul, the problem was he couldn't think how to say his name without biting his tongue off, and he just hoped Harry understood the implications. " _ Someone  _ tripped over a stray brick suddenly peaking out of the wall, and we pulled it and it opened into a low earth tunnel that let out right on the perfect edge of the Forest, just far enough away from the Willow we could slip in without being seen while not being so close the tree would come right up and get us."

"We only used it that one time though," James sighed, "as Sirius said, we couldn't figure out how to activate it or what we'd done to get it to work. Never even added it to the map as it was of no help if we couldn't use it."

"So this tunnel you wanted out of the castle popped into existence because you had need of it," Lily worked out.

"Apparently it'll create anything you have need of," Harry agreed, that smile yet to have fallen off his face.

"But how does it work though!" Sirius demanded, bouncing slightly in anticipation. "Clearly it must be easier than we ever realized, we tried all manner of things to break that door back open, even paid a ghost to go through the wall for us and there was nothing on the other side! How does Dobby manage to get it open on a regular basis for Winky?"

Harry merely pursed his lips though, a smile still pushing through as he refused to answer, saying, "don't want to jinx this and my head to start hurting if I tell too soon."

"Now you're just being cruel," James groaned, knowing full well Harry was messing with the lot of them with that excuse, but no one argued the point, much.

Remus turned back to the pages very eagerly, feeling sixteen again and trying to tackle on the Marauders latest project.

"Technically a fool did that, Dobby was trying to take your head off," James reminded with almost amusement this time, the instance got funnier the more he grew to like Dobby, and what the little elf had just done for his life certainly helped with that. He wasn't even that put out anymore he hadn't discovered this on his own, all he'd ever wanted for his son at school was to discover his own adventures and this was certainly the best one yet in his opinion.

Sirius couldn't help his expression souring for a moment over her. He truly disliked her moments where she decided just because someone like Dumbledore said it was okay made everything peaches with the girl. If it wasn't for making friends with Harry, Sirius was now confident from that statement alone Hermione would be in line with the Ministry if it wasn't for that troll so many years ago.

Harry suddenly hoped topic of this new room never ended, as it was the first time the Marauders hardly gave his crush a passing thought they were too eager to hear of this new place.

"You lot honestly disapoint me with how shifty you can get over the silliest things," Sirius muttered under his breath, still watching the pages with burning eyes.

While Sirius and James preened at the mention of their map again, Remus thought back in confusion and asked, "when did you get that back from Moody, err, the fake Moody?"

"Oh, I snuck up there and filched it from his office soon as I was let out of the hospital wing," Harry shrugged. "Didn't even occur to me till now that wasn't mentioned." He kept thinking on it as he added, "all of Moody's stuff had already been emptied out, I've no clue where, so I was really worried for a moment I wouldn't find it, but I went through his desk and there it was, practically the only thing left in the room." He finished with a vaguely happy feeling this wasn't an accident on someone's part.

Lily burst out into full blown laughter at the look on her boys faces.

"That's it!" James spluttered in disappointment. "We got detention for three months trying to blow up that wall to get back behind that, and you just had to walk around asking it?"

"That's so, Ravenclaw," Remus crinkled his nose at the idea. "Oh just ask for help, someone'll come along."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea Moony," Sirius suddenly nodded to himself. "Remember how Lily said all the Founders supposedly did something for the school?"

"You were listening?" Lily raised a surprised brow while Sirius ignored her.

"What if this was Rowena Ravenclaws idea, seems her type of thing."**

"I wouldn't bet against you," James nodded serenely at the idea.

"So Ravenclaw both found the location for the school, and put one of the most fascinating rooms in it," Lily grinned, which only stretched wider at all the confused faces. "If you lot had bothered to ever read Hogwarts a History, you'd have found the passage that mentions how Rowena Ravenclaw apparently found the location for the school from a dream where a warty hog led her there."

"Good to know the woman who created the house for the intelligent was so barmy," Sirius rolled his eyes. He'd never questioned how his school had got its name and been happier not knowing it came from such a silly place.

Remus impatiently tried to keep going for more information about this splendid bit of the castle they were going to be exploring for the first time.

Every word was being taken in by all with the highest concentration, though for two different reasons. The four graduates were stoked for something new, another layer to the castle they'd never had the pleasure of discovering, but now Harry had! Harry was confident this room meant something great to him, something very significant for his life for far more reasons than just a secret meeting place.

"Wonder who was asking for those," Sirius couldn't help but snip under his breath.

"How on Earth did that stuff end up in there?" Lily yipped in surprise.

They all sat there for several long moments as they struggled to figure out why, before Remus said slowly, "maybe, it was the house-elves? If they were told to clean out Moody's office, and the real Moody didn't want his things back, perhaps the elves put his things into the Room of Requirement as a sort of storage? Dobby did say the elves used it for different reasons instead of just hiding away the drunk ones."

"I can see where you're going with that," James nodded, Harry honestly hoping he'd keep going, the idea appealing to him there was just a whole room full of junk things hidden away over the years...

"You mean he doesn't miss falling to the hard ground while Hermione told him to aim?" Lily giggled.

"Oh yes, a magical room appears to you, and you ask for a second library! Brilliant," James mocked.

"Was that all it took!" Remus clapped himself on the forehead.

"Well she'll be out of your hair for a good, what do you say Prongs, two weeks to read the lot?" Sirius stated.

"He said a hundred," James thought in his mind, "I want to say at least a month."

"You're forgetting this place can now conjure up whatever book Hermione pleases," Remus reminded, "I'm thinking we could lock Hermione in there and she wouldn't notice for far longer than one school year."

All three cracked up laughing while Harry and Lily exchanged amused smiles at imagining Hermione scowling at the lot.

"I think I won right there, Hermione clearly can be distracted," Sirius snickered.

"You're off to a great start with this teaching thing with such eloquent words," James chuckled.

"How on earth did the twins manage to run past this place three times while hiding from Filch?" Remus paused in confusion.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be three consecutive walk pasts, but they were leading him in a circle," James offered, thinking of a hidden nearby secret passage they could have been jumping from into another on the way to this place.

"Then what about Dumbledore, or Filch?" Remus persisted this new idea. "They know the castle well enough they'd have no reason to walk past the same place three times accidentally while going to something."***

"It's not like anyone in here can answer all that Moony," Sirius sighed with disappointment. "Boy do I wish we had Dobby here now, I'd interrogate the little bugger all day about that and more."

"Makes me wonder what Seamus thinks is going on," Remus questioned. "The two are such good friends, how's Dean sneaking off for so long without his friend questioning where?"

"Secret girlfriend?" Siris offered with a shrug.

"Naww," Lily cooed before giggling just a touch at Harry's blush.

"Naw gone," Sirius rolled his eyes, "is Hermione playing at a power trip?"

"Give her a chance," Remus waved him off, as he couldn't imagine Hermione setting Harry up like this only to pull something like that.

"You've certainly got a girl there who's not shy," James grinned which Harry happily denied acknowledging as his face went more red.

"Ah," Sirius acknowledged. "Yes, alright fine, that one made sense."

"Team spirit?" James snorted. "We don't name the different Quidditch teams further than our houses."

"You lot gave yourselves a name," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"That's different," Sirius said, looking wounded she'd compare such a thing, but his face blanched as did all the Marauders as that was too difficult to talk about considering what one particular member had done to them.

Harry did not force them to linger on the subject no matter how much he'd have liked to poke fun at them in that moment thinking they were so special.

"Bit on the nose," Remus grinned.

"Though that one had merits for life," James chuckled.

"Well that second one's still a winner then," Sirius smirked.

"Well would you look at these two working together," Sirius' eyes gleamed in a whole other kind of laughter as he turned attention on Harry. "Best be careful pup, or Ginny and Colin's fan club may gain another member."

Harry struggled hard to hold a scowl on him even while he was far to happy in this moment. He'd rediscovered the name of a very special group to him, that alone caused him to smile without restraint, but there was something genuinely amusing about Ginny and Cho going back and forth like that he couldn't quite place a finger on.

"Who decided this was a democracy?" James couldn't help but chuckle. "Harry could have wanted a benevolent dictatorship."

"I'm thinking Hermione would start a revolt against that, best let her pretend she's calling the shots while I'm the head peice," Harry said good naturedly.

"Open foot, insert mouth," Lily said darkly for this arse bringing up memories of her son having to survive that moment again.

"Good of you to start with something simple, in instructions and spell work," Remus praised the idea. "Work your way up to that benevolent dictatorship slowly," he finished with amusement.

"Proving once and for all Neville's as skilled at magic as anyone," Lily said grimly, her thoughts still on how Snape treated him for his rather faulty work in potions. A little encouragement and he was already managing to strike Harry with the spell, he'd build up the speed necessary for a proper fight.

"That's probably for the best," Remus agreed mildly, "encouragment first, constructive criticism when it's needed later."

"Technically, they weren't not following your choice of words," James began defending at once as if his son would start scolding the twins.

"Yeah, they're pairing off and practicing, just, you know, not on their partner," Sirius beamed with pride while Harry didn't bother hiding his laughter at any of this.

"One rather sad of such a simple spell, the other very sad of his mind set," James scoffed.

"You've never tried to jinx me," Lily reminded.

"I would if we'd ever been paired to practice together," James shrugged without remorse. "I know better than to try and go easy on you, you'd send something far worse than a disarming charm at me."

Lily smiled pleasantly without bothering to deny such a thing.

Remus was reading all of this with pure fascination. One of the many reasons he loved teaching was to watch and learn all of the very different ways children could learn, and here was a wide variety of a group of students. He found himself making little notes in his own mind how he'd offer help with the mentioned problems, and then quickly tore that to shreds, refusing to acknowledge he was still entertaining the idea of going back to Hogwarts for this reason.

"This is the best room in existence!" James squelaed. "Do you think it even has limitations? How many dungbombs could fill that room?"

Lily frowned at her husband, in times like these genuinely wondering if he'd suffered brain damage in his life for having such a one track mind.

"I think she should wait a few sessions before trying to improve upon or make up her own spell, best stick with it until you've got the basics of the spell down," Sirius pretended to patiently critic until he turned to Harry and finished flamboyantly, "then she and Harry can-"

Harry clapped his hand over his mouth while looking him right in the eyes, and Sirius responded by liking the digits, causing Harry to recoil in revulsion. While Sirius' nose was scrunched up with distaste as he stuck his tongue out and tried to look at it, Remus quickly kept going.

"Well technically you did," James was all for continuing while Sirius was temporarily distracted, "how dare Harry come in the vicinity and distract her with his mere presence."

"I will pay you stop," Harry groaned.

"You can't pay me with my own money," James smirk widened while Harry groaned louder.

"Least Harry keeps things straight," Remus chuckled.

Causing both boys humor to dissipate at once from mocking Harry.

"Does someone have it out for the Gryffindor Chasers?" James demanded, slightly amused those two girls seemed to keep getting random injuries.

"Honestly, I'd believe that one by now, Harry really should be watching what he's eating," James grumbled.

"But I want to," Sirius pouted, long since knowing he'd have a hoot of fun with Luna if given the chance.

"I swear I keep expecting that girl to move down and live on the pitch," Lily rolled her eyes while James nodded for Angelina keeping that upfront.

Lily's face puckered with disappointment. It hadn't occurred to her till now, but had none of them really found a single Slytherin they could trust to bring into this? She'd spotted a dozen opportunities now, but none so wasted as this one to prove once and for all there was nothing wrong with the whole house, and if even one student had branched out and just tried to offer some help and support from that house it would have meant so much to her.

"Was this argument really needed?" Remus frowned. "They were supposed to be getting each other, Hermione should be happy he pulled it off on his first day trying."

"I'm thinking Hermione's competitive side is smarting if Ron got her before she did," Sirius chuckled.

"How did he even?" James full blown laughed at the imagery.

"I don't know what she's talking about, that still sounds like a point for Ron," Sirius agreed with chipper.

"Time for dinner I think!" Harry said at once, looking pleadingly to his mother to back him up on this, who graciously agreed and pulled Harry into the kitchen with her to avoid the now very rowdy boys who were still chatting happily about all the ideas this room had given them.

*I have no idea what I just typed, it just sounded vaguely smart, if you have an actual smart person comment to insert there please have at it. If you don't then I'll just edit that part out.

**I actually have headcannons of what the other two founders did for the school, but I'm saving those for later, for now I'd love to hear your own ideas.

***I'd love to hear some ideas on this one, because I can only explain the twins, I'm not even sure how Malfoy knows about the room as he certainly didn't stumble across it for any random reason. I have far more to say about that in the next book of course and the whole Vanishing Cabinet/ Room of Hidden Things thing, but for now we're focusing on how so many people just stumble around the same area three times to find this thing in such a large castle.

  
  



	19. THE LION AND THE SERPENT

I've officially reached the halfway point!

Lily wished she had a whistle herself to get the boys attention sometimes, but finally she'd wrangled them all around one table which did nothing to cease their desire to talk about that room. She even engaged in a few of their more reasonable questions, like speculation of what would happen if more than one person asked for different things of the room for something at the same time. Harry and his friends were all asking for a similar request, but would the room have two doors appear, combine the two requests as it did for the trio, or remain empty until one more solid thing was asked of. While no one had an actual answer for any of this, it was still fun to speculate. When the meal was over Lily happily nursed baby Harry and laid him down for a proper nap, and when she finally settled down to continue it took the boys a moment to realize she was reading without their even paying attention. It took James pleading with her to start over so they could all hear.

"A worthy secret then," Sirius grinned for his old memories of feeling the same.

"A miracle I'm not sure I could share," Remus crinkled his nose.

Lily was watching Harry preen with more pride than she'd yet seen, and it was for others accomplishments. She'd loved her son the moment he was born, but seeing him glow with pride at seeing others accomplishments after just a little bit of help from himself truly made her realize he may have found his own calling in this field.

"Indeed, unpredictability is always better," Sirius agreed enthusiastically.

"Did he think she'd come into inheritance and was being generous, donating to a worthy cause?" James chuckled.

Lily shushed him and kept going curiously how a coin helped with this.

Lily finished with utter exasperation at herself for still being so impressed with Hermione. Doing a sixth year potion in her second year had been impressive enough, now Hermione was showing how advanced she was in Charms as well, was there any subject, anything she couldn't do without putting her mind to it?

The Marauders were just as impressed. They'd never thought they'd find anything more impressive than fifth years being able to pull off becoming animagus', but it was clear enough to them Hermione would have already been able to do this as well if she'd set her mind to it, and that meant far more to them than any grade she'd ever get.

"We've all been wondering that since her first year," Remus rolled his eye.

"I suppose she asked the hat for Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw and got Gryffindor anyways?" Harry recalled a previous conversation about how the Marauders guessed people got put into houses.

"That would be our guess," Sirius agreed. "As far as I can tell, even after everything we've seen of her, she still seems to value intelligence over, well everything."

Harry said back in defense of his friend, "After the rules she's broken? The laws? I know Hermione puts much more value into our friendship than her grades ever could."

"That's not just a Gryffindor trait though, Ravenclaws have strong bonds of friendship as well," Remus shrugged. "It's what the hat perceives as the way you'd learn best, and being brave enough to put up your opinion put her in with her lot."

James and Sirius exchanged an amused look but stopped arguing the point. Lily had kept her mouth shut because she'd never liked the idea of sorting at all. One particular Gryffindor coming to mind who most anyone would have called a Slytherin if they knew what he'd done, Lockhart was a blithering idiot, Zacharias Smith had already proven to be an arrogant little thing from the humble house, and her favorite teacher in school had been all the qualities Slytherin house prided itself on without turning into a Death Eater. She would never think of anyone as something just because of what house they were in.

"Why would she call me the Sorting Hat?" Sirius asked while ducking on instinct, though Remus only rolled his eyes that time.

"Maybe the Order should invest in something like this," James said as he thought it through. "These really can come in handy, so long as you don't lose them."

"Or accdientally sell them," Sirius chuckled.

"How do you know about meetings now?" Harry asked.

"Fawk appears to us when we're alone with a note," Remus grinned. "How he always knows when to appear away from everyone I've only been able to guess at."

"So much more deniability if you get caught with it," Lily said grimly.

They all winced hard for that line, wishing there was something they could say, knowing there wasn't.

Sirius and James whooped with laughter at Harry's face as he got to partake in their old head of house's favor for her Quidditch team. Both of them were giddy with excitement for finally getting another game, they'd yet to complain about the fact they hadn't gotten this chapter.

The other three joined in the laughter as well, all imagining how many times McGonagall had looked to that Cup and smirked.

"But that part's not unusual," James grumbled less harsh than normal because he was still grinning for his own head of house.

"Wait, I thought you said the staff couldn't book the pitch for the team!" Harry yelped furiously.

"I, thought they couldn't," James euphoria was instantly wiped clean in frustration. "At least, they used to not be able to, I can't imagine why Madam Hooch is letting him."

"I wouldn't even be that surprised if he was doing it around her noticing," Sirius grumbled in disgust.

Harry scowled in agitation that McGonagall hadn't been able to do anything either because the complaint had been set to Snape, though he didn't know why Alicia had done such a thing.

Lily saw red for a moment, hating this vile creature who continued to act like the very thing he'd hated as a child.

"That is a really, really bad start," James muttered, bouncing in place as he tried to work on some advice in his head he'd offer Ron for that.

"Wow, sounds like Ron pulled off a Starfish and Stick," Sirius grinned for the talent.

"I would never deny my relation to the Weasley's, it's one I'm actually proud of," Sirius grinned.

Lily tisked while the boys chuckled at the jab.

Harry grinned as it caused those around him to laugh as well, nothing pleased him more than watching them laugh, at least when he was in on the joke.

"And here I thought Ron always wanted attention," Remus sighed.

"Clearly not this kind," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Well then this is a good lesson for him to learn, you don't just get one kind of attention," James said a little sourly.

James and Sirius groaned in unison they'd missed out on a Quidditch chapter, but both kept their mouths silent from complaint, for now.

"Food does seem to make him feel better usually," Remus agreed.

"More scare tactics," James scoffed.

"Maybe Umbridge approved some knew club," Lily said without much care, though she'd already rather hear about that than spend another chapter on a game where her son was likely to be injured, so she supposed she should enjoy the boredom while it lasted.

"And all he's going to get is cereal, what a disappointment," Sirius chuckled.

"He's being too hard on himself, the first game is always the hardest," James said with honest sympathy this time.

"The highest praise that can be offered," Sirius grinned.

Remus couldn't help snorting in surprise even while the other three boys huffed in disappointment, James and Sirius at least thinking they never would have admitted that and instead Ron should have learned how he'd done that and practiced more.

Remus and Lily started giggling this time while the old players chose to ignore them.

"I've never considered drowing myself in milk," Sirius said with his head cocked to the side, this time ignoring altogether as Remus smacked him upside the head as he continued, "but that one's original at least."

"Because bringing up homework right now is really the way to make him feel better," James scoffed.

Lily paused for a moment to take that one in while Sirius immediately clapped his hand to his forehead and cried, "how could I never have thought of that?!"

"Because you were on the team with me," James was grinning even as he rolled his eyes at Sirius, "why would you ever think to make something like that?"

"Because it's brilliant!" Sirius' grin kept stretching wider by the second the more he thought about this, before swatting Remus on the arm and demanding, "Moony, why didn't you ever think of this?!"

"I apologize," Remus said, and Harry couldn't tell how much sarcasm was in that.

"You think she has one for Ravenclaw?" James chuckled.

"I think Harry would have noticed before now if he'd ever played against Ravenclaw and a student was wearing an eagle on their head," Lily smiled.

Sirius gave an exaggerated yawn at the idea as he watched Lily's cat lick itself, he'd never been afraid of a cat in his life. The lion head had been a cool idea to support his team, but the sound effect would have just made him laugh.

"Yes," Remus agreed at once. "I'm curious what she made it out of."

"I'm sorry I didn't ask," Harry said honestly.

"Now there's an excellent use of crafts!" James beamed, "I think I finally see why some kids wanted an art class."

"Well when Harry beats Slytherin and they have a slight chance at a rematch, Luna can put it on in the meantime," Sirius chuckled, both boys missing the pained look Harry got for imagining himself in the next game...

"Remember your first match and how you were too nervous to eat," Lily reminded him, "I don't think it's going to work dear."

"Well we finally found the way to make Ron not want food," Remus muttered to Sirius.

"Why?" All five muttered to themselves, trying to figure out what that had to do with anything.

"Oh, so she didn't kiss you on the cheek as well?" Sirius switched to snickering about this now.

"Here's hoping that puts Ron in a better mood," Remus said cheerfully.

"Or it might just distract him," James scolded much to his friends amusement, now remembering how he'd reacted when Lily kissed him before his last game.

"I'm confused," Sirius said slowly, knowing he was supposed to be angry but not sure at what yet.

Lily however kept reading while beaming, and it took the boys a minute to guess what she thought those were. Lily was probably hoping some of the Slytherin's were finally starting to show some equal support for both houses, and none of them were going to be the one to burst her bubble, though they were all thinking if it was anything like that Hermione wouldn't have told Harry not to let Ron see them. Lily was probably just discounting what Hermione thought they were though like she was to them.

"Sounds like perfect conditions," James said wistfully, he really was looking forward to a game soon that he could play in again.

"I don't see why they couldn't have been left like that," Remus couldn't help but poke fun just as he always did to his friends when they needed it whether Ron was here or not.

"Typical of any team to hand that over last minute," James rolled his eyes.

"Wow, wondering if Malfoy got them the latest Nimbus models again to let his friends on the team," Sirius scoffed.

"It sounds like they're going to need it," Remus couldn't help mutter.

James was starting to get a nervous feeling about that song the more it was mentioned, if it had anything to do with the Slytherin's he just couldn't hold out hope it would be a good thing.

Lily sighed deeply, any hope for her idea gone already if Malfoy was wearing one. Now she read on grimly, somehow looking forward to getting through this less every line.

"Tough girl, it's not hard to see why Fred likes her," Sirius grinned. "Hey Harry, did her and Fred keep together after the Yule Ball?"

"I never asked them," Harry shrugged, "but I had seen George hanging around with Lee once or twice without Fred around, so maybe."

"Is he not going to try following you around with lame insults anymore?" James chuckled.

"Honestly Lily, how can you read that sounding so bored," Sirius groaned as she read out for the commentator as if reading the morning paper.

Lily simply shrugged, but Remus suddenly wished Sirius hadn't said anything, as Lily continued if possible in an even more flat voice, much to both his friends annoyance.

"Maybe I was wrong about Angelina and Fred though," Harry said good naturedly.

"Or the friends messing with one of the twins," Sirius brushed off, still glaring at Lily more every second as she tried to make her voice as monotone as possible.

"Alright, that's it," James made a lung for the book, which Lily neatly dodged and kept the book close to her chest, now full blown grinning at her husband.

"What, I'm not allowed to have a bit of fun?"

"This is the opposite of fun woman!" Sirius groaned. "I've never heard someone be so bland about a sport in my life."

Lily's giggling increased while James kept muttering at her side and eyeing the book with longing, but when she kept going it was clearly getting harder by the moment to hold a blank face as her own amusement kept rising.

While Harry had been enjoying the show, both his mum messing with the two and his old Quidditch memories, he could already feel a stirring of unease for whatever was fixing to come. Lily clearly felt it as well as she couldn't quite keep up a bored tone anymore, wondering at who could be singing during the game.

Lily had blanched in shock upon the first line, but she'd managed to stutter the whole thing out in the thick, heavy silence before coming to a screeching halt when she'd finally run out of insults.

"I-that is the lowest-" Remus looked too disgusted for words at what they were doing to Ron.

"Wow, I have seen a lot of backhanded things to mess with a player, but never a song dedicated to them," James face was scrunched up with derision even as a very tiny part of him vaguely admired the dedication that went into something so elaborate.

"Really makes you wonder what Malfoy does with the rest of his freetime, sings ballads to Hermione's parents, or poems to Harry's fame." Sirius snapped, his face twisted with dislike as he knew he'd have cursed Malfoy out of the air if he'd been there.

There was no longer any fun in Lily continuing with much less enthusiasm than anyone else, they all would have felt the same forcing themselves to read this bit no matter their love of the sport.

James was practically vibrating in place, wanting to snap on a burst of speed and deck Malfoy where he flew, wanting to say something that would make Ron put that stupid song out of his head, but both were lost to him.

"The twins friend is doing a terrible job of helping them deny relation," Remus randomly muttered as anything else to think about, fighting back the impulse to press his hands to his ears in worry for this to come.

All five of them cursed insinc for this misfortune, Lily denying doing any such thing by reading on loudly so as not to let the boys miserate for too long.

"That can not be allowed!" Harry finally burst with frustration. "Can you put a whole house in detention! McGonagall, or someone shouldn't be letting them say that about him!"

The others remained completely silent with frustration, no one wanted to be the one to tell Harry what he already knew, there was nothing that could be done, it would be impossible to halt the whole game and kick those singing out of the stands.

Lily was forcing herself to keep reading this in a flat rage now, what she wouldn't give to put silencing charms on the lot of them for ever turning someone's life into such a cruel joke of a song.

Remus was twitching with unease in the tense room, wishing he could go back to laughing along with his friends about something as fun as a Quidditch game, why couldn't they ever go one of these without something terrible happening every time.

"I'm going to imagine for a moment they skipped on some practices to all memorize this rubbish," James hissed under his breath.

Sirius gave Harry an absent pat on the shoulder, absolutely agreeing with him this could all turn around any moment. The score wouldn't even feel as bad as it did if that wretched song would quit being passed around, but though Lily looked like she was considering skipping any more lines of it, that wasn't making it vanish.

"Hooch didn't call that?" James snapped. "Could have used that penalty, Harry wasn't showing any signs of having seen the Snitch!"

"That's such an arguable call hardly anyone goes for it," Remus disagreed, James opening his mouth to argue the point but Lily ignored them both.

Had Lily's joke at the start of this game not been interrupted she still wouldn't have had it in her to mime carelessness now, even with that horrid song echoing in the back of her mind she was edging in her seat with excitement.

"YES!"

The echoing cheer of excitement could have woken neighbors. This was exactly what they needed to shove in those stupid Slytherin faces just how useless they were, how some hateful song wouldn't be enough to stop such a magnificent team!

Harry glowed for a moment in their praise, but the smile never quite reached his eyes as he watched them bounce with excitement for him. He wasn't sure he wanted to understand this feeling of dread, of something heavy just waiting to pounce on him for this win. Was it to do with Ron? Surely no one was really going to hold that against him, it was his first game after all...

Lily jerked in surprise as she read that, whatever victory she'd been holding before in that small moment blown away as effectively as a cannonball. The game was over, and Lily was hoping Ron got his revenge by clocking whichever Beater that was for pulling that stunt.

"Oh yes, just a solid metal ball slamming into your spine, walk it off," Lily grumbled under her breath as she eyed her child, then turned sharp eyes on her husband who looked no more pleased but certainly not worried about injury.

"He's wasting his talents as a slimeball," Sirius snarled, "he needs to pass on already and become a poltergeist."

"So long as he doesn't haunt Hogwarts," James agreed.

"I hope you go after Ron Harry," Lily couldn't help but urge, "you're only giving Malfoy what he wants by hanging back and listening to him."

Harry didn't answer, his face growing tighter by the minute as that feeling of anger continued to pound through him.

Harry's eyes flashed, he tensed and would have shot a curse at nothing if Sirius hadn't laid a restraining hand on his shoulder and whispered a calm reminder there was nothing for it now. It didn't make anyone feel any better, even though some of them held a dislike for Molly now they could never condone saying such a thing about her.

Lily was trying to read this quickly, so as to get the feel of sandpaper off her tongue from pure frustration. It never angered her any less when Malfoy continued using the same insults.

No one ever appreciated any reminder of the Dursley's, but putting them in any kind of comparison which was the safe house of the Burrow like that truly was the most insulting thing they'd yet heard.

"I don't know why they're bothering," Sirius articulated through gritted teeth, "Malfoy's gone past where a detention would be worth it."

James moved so fast Lily didn't realize the book had been wrenched away until she was staring at her empty hands, a slight burn in her palms from how tight she'd been holding the cover the only imprint of it. She turned to snap at him, but he was too busy jabbing his wand at the offending page.

"James!" She protested, trying to push her hand in the way to stop him before he did permanent damage.

"I am sick of that little scumbag insulting everyone, especially you," he said in a scary calm voice.

"Well doing whatever you're trying to do to that won't fix anything," she snapped as she pulled it back to her.

He gave in with a hateful scowl still in place, and Lily turned back to see the spell he'd managed to put in place, where Malfoy's name had been replaced with, well a colorful swear word Lily wasn't going to be saying. She fixed it and then kept going while James grumbled that hadn't been nearly enough payback.

Lily stopped for a moment to look at her son, nibbling softly on her lip, but not a word could she find to speak against this. She couldn't claim to be much better if someone had been speaking of her mother.

"I don't see why that was a reason to stop," Remus said quietly, "now's the time to go for the wand when the Muggle way stops working."

Sirius nodded in absolute agreement, his hand had long since been on his wand, just aching for something to curse.

"Clearly you didn't bash it into his skull, so I don't know what he's crying about," James snarled.

James struggled for a moment, but the compulsion to share his life with his son won out after his anger as he burst into speech, "I convinced our Seeker, Shilling, to keep the Snitch after every match and she passed it along to me. One of my favorite past times when I was bored was to pull it out and keep my reflexes up."

"One of your very many annoying habits," Lily sniffed, her old angry bleeding tone giving James even more flashbacks. "You looked like such a show off."

"I was showing off," James agreed without remorse.

Harry couldn't marshal up much of a smile for the two, there was something about this day that promised to get even worse for him, and he had a feeling it wasn't about detention. There was also something else, a smaller memory that didn't align with this day, but promised he somehow had a first hand account of knowing those things his parents had just said, but that was ridiculous of course, how could he have known that?

"Damn, and I always loved it when she showed our house colors," Sirius winced.

"We're past flattery to make this better Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Never stopped me from trying," Sirius shrugged.

"Now that was just uncalled for violence," James grumbled.

"I think she needs to have one of her own biscuits and breathe for a moment," Lily said grimly, knowing Harry would get a chance to explain, but also knowing as well as anyone it wouldn't get him out of trouble no matter how much Malfoy had deserved it.

"A very educational performance with splendid end results, really they should be getting thanks at least from Burbag," Sirius said flatly.

"There's that extra week we always got," Remus muttered.

"No!" Lily groaned as she gazed at that stupid little noise. "No, no, no-"

"Oh Lily, please tell me you're doing a terrible impression of a joke," James groaned into his fingers, he couldn't even look to her face for confirmation.

"What on earth is that roadkill doing there!" Sirius all but exploded. "She's nothing to do with any of this!"

Harry's horrible impression was growing more sickly by the moment. Somehow, this was all about to get terribly worse.

"A face only my mother would love," Sirius groaned, digging his heels into his eyes so that he wouldn't have to keep watching Lily's face turn red from frustration of having to read about this woman in the same vicinity as her son again.

"You can help yourself off the astronomy tower," Remus snapped.

"I'd be more grateful if you dove headfirst into the black lake, meet the local population," Sirius promised.

"Ah the twisted irony, Umbridge is actually doing more good than harm arriving then, because now McGonagall might go slightly easier on you in front of her," Lily sighed.

"Merlin himself couldn't have offered any support for this except some toad-be-gone," James snipped.

Harry was starting to twitch uncontrollably in his seat with unease, fighting the urge to either bury himself under the couch from a reaction he could sense coming, or tear the cushions in half from his own mounting anger.

"No..." Remus trailed off, too appalled to manage anything else in fear of where this was headed.

Lily only absently noted the lack and then use of the title as Umbridge's own self-importance in thinking she could be so informal, she was far more keyed into the new level of horror of where this could be going.

"My sentiments exactly," James snarled.

"No good deed goes unpunished," Remus said faintly, his two friends going bone white as they suddenly feared why this was being brought up again. Surely, no it wasn't possible, Umbridge couldn't have found a way to force the team to disband again, could she?!

"You shouldn't have any more authority than a sack of dung!" Lily screeched. She didn't want to keep going, was almost tempted to hand the book back over to James just so she wouldn't have to be the one to find out what this monster was going to do to her son next.

Lily had found it hard to believe the audacity of those first few amendments, and they somehow got worse every single time. This woman was creating these as she went along, and no one ws stopping her!

Harry's mind went blank. He heard shouting, he saw something get tossed across the room, but it was impossible to understand details as he struggled to wrap his mind around what he'd just heard.

Lily wasn't even a fan of her son being on the team and that was too far! She only held herself back from saying this by watching her husband work himself into a rampage with the only background thought being she should find a way to record this moment, otherwise there would be no record of Umbridge left when James was threw with her.

"-youngest Seeker in a century, she can't do that to him!"

Then again, what did they need a record of her for except an example of a transfiguration spell gone terribly wrong.

Sirius was too busy running scenarios in his head about something far too violent to be put into words, he needed action to get this one out of his system. Remus couldn't get his mind to act much better, as affronted as his friends and more than willing to enact whatever revenge they came up with.

Lily watched the lot of them try to find some way to work off their temper without destroying the house in vain, she really couldn't see a way to call their attention back even if she'd wanted to. So it was to her surprise when James finally found something resembling his normal voice and forced himself not to shout at his wife, "Lily would you keep going please. I'd like to get to the end of this book and find out how she's leaving this school." Then he trailed off into more hateful mutters about how that wasn't going to happen fast enough, and he couldn't believe his son was missing this sport for a whole year until that walking wart left.

"If it isn't Remus tearing her head off to replace her than it's not going to be as satisfactory," Sirius said grimly.

Lily silently agreed as she pressed on for more horror.

"She's gone from crossing the line into a whole new abiss!" Sirius howled in frustration. "She's, that's not, there's no-"

"She can't do that," Lily said in opposition. Quietly, a dangerous predator about to strike. "That's his private property, it's not against school rules to have."

"Well don't tell her that, or she'll ban brooms from the school next," Remus threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"You are something that I have only called one person, and you deserve the term far more than them," Remus growled.

"I need McGonagall to understand that her life purpose now needs to be revenge for this," James pleaded with the universe. "Someone in that castle must understand this!"

"I'm worried there will be someone who does," Remus suddenly said with a touch of worry, looking to a still fuming Sirius. If he heard about Umbridge doing this, he may come up to the school and give her what he'd promised Harry Prongs and Padfoot would do in their own time.

"This woman is the physical embodiment of a mood killer," Lily groaned.

"I honestly believe she's a demon sent from hell at this point," Remus agreed.

"Hey, the twins," Sirius suddenly snapped his fingers, giving Remus a pleased enough smirk. "Stop your worrying about me Moony, I can guarantee the twins won't be taking this one lying down."

Remus nodded grudgingly. It didn't make anyones anger disappear by one level, but it did ease the misery of watching Harry's face as he relived this moment.

James sighed as he imagined the old grin he could put on people's faces as he did this same thing nights in a row, of the party that should be going on, of simpler and fun times in his school, was it truly impossible for his son to enjoy that?

"I don't ever want to relive this day, considering I'm struggling to come up with a worse outcome than this," Sirius huffed.

Remus gave a commiserating nod of agreement, Lily frowning pityingly at all of the boys in the room, but even she couldn't imagine how this could have gone a better way, the end results seemed inevitable by this point.

Lily truly pitied him, but couldn't help wondering if that wasn't for the best. Just because you were good at something didn't mean you could do it in front of a crowd, and that's clearly where Ron was sitting. She'd hate to see him ever feel so low again.

James absolutely disagreed, setting his shoulders and wishing he could drag Ron onto the pitch right now, already an idea forming in his head of how he'd help him to work through this. First he'd put one person in the stands until Ron could easily ignore that person, and then keep adding people until Ron could block them all out. He didn't care how long it took, he'd find a way so that Ron would never let someone get the better of him like this. There was no such thing as quitting with dignity as far as he was concerned.

"He hadn't heard of this!?" Remus said in surprise.

"I was wondering why he didn't question why the common room wasn't in party mode," Sirius grumbled, "clearly he hasn't heard much of anything."

"Oh it's nothing of the sort," Lily snapped, wondering if Hermione would whack Ron upside the head for his thinking something so stupid.

"Malfoy would have caused all this no matter how Ron played," Sirius snapped.

Remus winced for Ron, sympathizing with him more than anyone else as he could really see why Ron did. People telling you you were something long enough tended to leave a mark.

Remus had watched the exaggerations of his friends all his life long enough to know better than to pick on Ron for that statement. Though he was hard pressed to really not ask if this was worse than thinking his sister was dead.

"Umbridge's tombstone," James snapped.

"His Firebolt back," Sirius sighed.

"He what?" Harry demanded, jumping to his feet in joy as Lily eagerly pressed the book into James' hands now so he could read more about that!

HPHP

The Lily reads a Quidditch game in a monotone voice idea was offered by, DjuulLOVEhp!

*Fun fact, most lion roars in movies are actually done by tigers. Ever heard a lion roar? You should, it sounds like their hacking up a hairball, not exactly intimidating to watch on a computer screen, more funny than anything, but I'm sure it's plenty scary in the wild. Now tigers, those guys will make you piss yourself through an enclosure.

** Reports say a Bludger weighs 149 pounds! I don't need to be a scientist to know that is more than enough to not only break a spine but go right through the human body if dropped on someone, let alone hit with force from a distance. In second year one of these was enough to break his elbow at a glancing blow! I'm not sure whether to call bull on inconsistency, or wonder if Harry died in this moment and the rest is all some twisted version of hell.

  
  



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